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Broadcasters urged to reach deal for FIFA Women’s World Cup rights

With less than 50 days to go until the first game, sports ministers of five European nations have signed a statement acknowledging their concern that "no television rights have been attributed for the matches broadcasting in our countries"

The governments of the UK, France, Spain, Germany and Italy have called on FIFA and broadcasters to “quickly reach an agreement” on TV rights for this summer’s FIFA Women’s World Cup.

The tournament is due to kick off in Australia and New Zealand on 20th July.

With less than 50 days to go until the first game of the tournament, the sports ministers of the five nations have signed a statement stating they “acknowledged with concern that until now, no television rights have been attributed for the matches broadcasting in our countries.”

The statement added that the five governments are aware of “legitimate interests and budgetary constraints” putting pressure on broadcasters to bid for the rights for the tournament. One of the major stumbling blocks is believed to be the kick off times of many of the matches, which will take place at around 8/9am BST or 9/10am CET.

“However, we are convinced that the media coverage of the Women’s World Cup will be decisive in improving the global visibility of women’s sports in our European countries,” added the sports ministers. “Media exposure to women’s sports has indeed a highly significant impact on the development of women’s and young girls’ sports practices.”

They added that they see is as their responsibility to “fully mobilise all stakeholders” and stop a potential blackout of the tournament in the five countries.

According to reports, the BBC and ITV are close to agreeing a deal for the UK which would be similar to their rights to the men’s tournament.

FIFA president Gianni Infantino has previously claimed broadcasters had offered FIFA between £800,000-10 million, compared with £80-160 million for the men’s tournament.