FIFA Boss Should Read the Pitch on Women’s Pay
Gianni Infantino bungled a golden chance to say that the women’s game has arrived and is done playing catchup.
Missed opportunity.
Photographer: Charlotte Wilson/Offside/Getty
More than 2 billion people are expected to have tuned in. About 2 million attended matches in person. Both records. The FIFA Women’s World Cup generated more than $570 million to break even.
So how much more convincing does FIFA President Gianni Infantino need that women deserve pay parity? And, more importantly, how much more convincing do women have to do? In comments Friday, two days before the final, that instantly drew ire from players and on social media, Infantino said women “have the power to convince us men what we have to do and what we don’t have to do” to achieve pay equality. It was the trite, old message that it’s still up to women to prove themselves.