**FIFA Secretary General Fatma Samoura has described the Women’s World Cup as the best the most inclusive and the best FIFA Women’s World Cup ever. Samoura said this at the FIFA Women’s Football Convention in Sydney on Friday while thanking hosts New Zealand and Australia. **
“I will start my address by acknowledging and paying my respect to all the First Nations and Tangata Whenua who are in this room this morning” Samoura told the gathering in Sydney.
“Thank you to both host nations of Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand for having united the world indeed, to all those who have put their efforts – their hearts – into what will go down in the history books of women’s football as the best, the most spectacular, the most colourful, the most inclusive and the best FIFA Women’s World Cup ever. And, I can hear you roar.”
Meanwhile Fifa President Gianni Infantino said on Friday that the 2023 Women’s World Cup, “the biggest and best of all time”, has generated more than $570 million (520 million euros).
The Swiss leader also called on women, buoyed by this success, to “choose the right battles (…) to convince us, the men, of what we must do”.
“I say to all women – and you know I have four daughters, so I have a few at home – you have the power to change,” he told the FIFA Women’s Football Convention, to lukewarm applause.
The President’s rather vague declaration of intent – “With men, with Fifa, you will find open doors. Push them, they are open”, he added– provoked an ironic reaction from Norwegian striker Ada Hegerberg, who wrote on X (ex-Twitter): “Working on a little presentation to convince the men. Who’s up for it?”.
The competition co-organized by Australia and New Zealand “exceeded $570 million in sales, which allowed us to break even,” Infantino explained from Sydney.
“We didn’t lose any money, and this is the second highest-grossing sporting event, with the exception of course of the Men’s World Cup, on the world stage,” he insisted.
“This shows that our strategy wasn’t too bad, but of course we still have to do much better. But we’re on the right track,” supported the Italo-Swiss, who was re-elected in March for a new term running until 2027.
In February, Fifa announced record revenues for the 2019-2022 cycle of some $7.6 billion, up 18% on the previous period.
President Infantino defended the decision to expand the Women’s World Cup from 24 to 32 participating teams.
“They were saying: +it’s not going to work, the level is too different, you’ll have 15-0 scores, it will be bad for women’s soccer and its image+,” he said.
“But I’m sorry, Fifa was right. We had many countries in the world who thought they had a chance to participate. Everyone now believes that there is a chance to shine on the world stage”, assured the head of world soccer.
The ninth edition of the World Cup, “the biggest and best ever” according to Infantino, was marked by the emergence of new nations, such as Jamaica, Morocco and South Africa, who reached the knockout phase for the first time.
Source: Africanews
