Football Australia urges FIFA to clarify Saudi sponsorship of Women’s World Cup
Football Australia and New Zealand Football have criticised FIFA for signing a reported sponsorship deal with Saudi Arabia’s tourism authority for the upcoming Women’s World Cup.
It is expected that the global football organisation will soon confirm reports that Visit Saudi will join international brands including Adidas, Coca-Cola, the Commonwealth Bank and Visa as major sponsors of the tournament, which will be jointly hosted by Australia and New Zealand from July.
Concerns have been raised by a number of critics globally on the basis of the Saudi Arabian’s government’s history of oppressing women’s rights, which contradicts FIFA’s commitment to gender equality in its sustainability framework.
In a statement sent to Mumbrella, Football Australia said it understood FIFA had “entered into a destination partnership agreement in respect to the FIFA Women’s World Cup Australia & New Zealand 2023″.
“We are very disappointed that Football Australia were not consulted on this matter prior to any decision being made,” the statement continued.
“Football Australia and New Zealand Football have jointly written to FIFA to urgently clarify the situation.”
The broadcast rights for the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 are held by Optus Sport, landing the winning bid for all 64 games in 2021, with the streaming service having previously streamed the FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2019. The free-to-air broadcast rights are being sublicensed by Network Seven.
Seven declined to comment on the matter.
Mumbrella contacted FIFA and Optus for comment.
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