Sports

Boom For Women Footballers As FIFA Triples W’Cup Money

Published

3 years ago

May 4, 2023

FIFA President Gianni Infantino has confirmed $152m as the prize money for this year’s Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.

Infantino made the confirmation while speaking alongside the World Trade Organisation Director-General Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala during Making Trade Score for Women!, a series of panel discussions held at the WTO’s headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.

The biggest women’s football competition is slated to start on July 20 and will be hosted jointly by Australia and New Zealand with FIFA also set to increase the pool of prize money significantly from what it was four years back in 2019.

“As a father of four beautiful daughters, I know very well how much attention we need to give women in our lives,” Infantino said at FIFA Congress.

“Our ambition will be, of course, to be able to have equality in payments for the ’26 Men’s and ’27 Women’s World Cups. FIFA is stepping up with actions, not just with words… but unfortunately this is not the case of everyone across the industry. Broadcasters and sponsors, dear friends, have to do more in this respect.”

Although the $152m fund for the first 32-team tournament is a huge boost from the $30m for the 24-team edition in 2019, and 10 times what it was in 2015, it is still considerably lower than the $440m total prize money awarded at the 32-team men’s World Cup in Qatar last year.

At the 2019 Women’s World Cup, the tournament champions received $4m while every participating country received $750,000.

The FIFA boss, in a statement on the football governing body website, said FIFA had already set an example by increasing the total funding package at the Women’s World Cup 2023 to $152m, treble the amount paid in 2019 and 10 times more than in 2015, prior to his election as FIFA president.

However, he added that FIFA still had to sell media rights for the tournament to some major markets because the offers were undervalued.

The FIFA President’s call was supported by Okonjo-Iweala.

“I hope the broadcasters are listening to what the FIFA president is saying about bidding higher for the Women’s World Cup as this is a real opportunity to support women’s football, and I hope they’ll take you up on your offer,” Dr Okonjo-Iweala stated.

Sports

JUST IN: Full Draw For 2026 World Cup Group Stages Confirmed

Published

2 days ago

December 5, 2025

Editor

The draw for the group stage of the 2026 World Cup has been conducted.

It took place at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., with US President Donald Trump and FIFA President Gianni Infantino in charge.

There will be 48 teams at next year’s tournament, to be played across the United States, Mexico and Canada.

All the participating countries were grouped into 12 groups of four.

Here is the full draw:

Group A: Mexico, South Africa, South Korea, Winner Play-off D
Group B: Canada, Winner Play-off A, Qatar, Switzerland
Group C: Brazil, Morocco, Haiti, Scotland
Group D: United States, Paraguay, Australia, Winner Play-off C
Group E: Germany, Curaçao, Ivory Coast, Ecuador
Group F: Netherlands, Japan, Winner Play-off B, Tunisia
Group G: Belgium, Egypt, Iran, New Zealand
Group H: Spain, Cape Verde, Saudi Arabia, Uruguay
Group I: France, Senegal, Winner Play-off 2, Norway
Group J: Argentina, Algeria, Austria, Jordan
Group K: Portugal, Winner Play-off 1, Colombia, Uzbekistan
Group L: England, Croatia, Panama, Ghana

Sports

EPL: Mikel Obi Reveals Why Chelsea Failed To Beat Arsenal in 1-1 Draw

Published

6 days ago

December 2, 2025

Editor

Former Super Eagles midfielder, John Mikel Obi, has claimed Chelsea failed to defeat Arsenal in the Premier League on Sunday, because of an early red card to Moises Caicedo.

The two London rivals played out a pulsating 1-1 draw at Stamford Bridge.

Caicedo was sent off in the 38th minute following a VAR check.

But it was Chelsea who took the lead after the break, thanks to Trevor Chalobah’s header.

But the Gunners equalized through Mikel Merino.

So far this season, Chelsea have received seven red cards in 20 games across all competitions this season.

“That’s four red cards this season; it’s not good enough. I’ve spoken about it; the manager needs to talk with the players, because it’s costing us games as well,” Mikel Obi said on his podcast.

“If you look at that game, if we finished with eleven men, I think we could’ve won. Maybe not easily, but comfortably, we could’ve secured a win.”

Sports

EPL: Slot Reveals When Salah Will Leave For AFCON

Published

6 days ago

December 2, 2025

Editor

Liverpool manager, Arne Slot, has revealed that Mohamed Salah was “not happy” to be dropped for their 2-0 win at West Ham on Sunday.

Salah was named on the bench at the London Stadium for the Premier League fixture.

Slot took the bold decision, as he looked to arrest a poor run of form, that saw the Reds lose nine of 12 matches.

Salah was not summoned from the bench for the entire 90 minutes, as goals from Alexander Isak and Cody Gakpo sealed victory.

“It was a normal reaction for a player who is good enough to play for us,” Slot said.

“I say that mildly as he’s been so outstanding for this club and will be in the future. He wasn’t happy he wasn’t starting but he wasn’t the only one.”

Salah could yet return to the starting line-up as Liverpool host Sunderland in the Premier League on Wednesday night.

The 33-year-old will remain available for the next four matches, before he leaves to join Egypt’s squad for the African Cup of Nations.

“It’s 15 December,” Slot confirmed.

“But always in these situations there is the player and the national team involved and there are always talks about what is best for all three of us.”