FIFA and the German Football Association (DFB) have met to talk about the increasing investments being made in women’s football and the need to protect and enhance its commercial value to reflect the growth being seen in the game. Fatma Samoura, the FIFA Secretary General, participated in the discussions at the Home of FIFA in Zurich alongside her DFB counterpart Heike Ullrich and the DFB Director of Institutional & Political Relations Christina Gasser. One of the main themes was the increased investment in the FIFA Women’s World Cup Australia & New Zealand 2023™. FIFA will distribute USD 110 million to the 32 teams taking part based on their performance at this year’s tournament, over three times more than in France four years ago and a near ten-fold increase over the 2015 tournament held in Canada. This comes on top of an increased pot of USD 31m preparation money that has been distributed to the teams in advance of the tournament.

In addition, FIFA will also be investing the additional funds necessary to ensure that the players at this year’s tournament enjoy equal conditions and services to those at the men's FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™. FIFA shared with the DFB figures around broadcasting and ticketing ahead of the FIFA Women’s World Cup, which indicate that the women’s game goes from strength to strength and, on some metrics, is in line with or even exceeds the men’s game. The DFB noted that this trend was also being seen in Germany, in particular for the women’s national team. The two sides agreed on the need to ensure women’s football was given a fair commercial value to reflect these developments, such as in the sale of broadcasting and marketing rights, a topic that has recently been mentioned in detail by FIFA President Gianni Infantino.

FIFA has recognised the value of women’s football and especially the FIFA Women’s World Cup with a commercial strategy for women’s football in place for the first time targeted at attracting dedicated revenue for the women’s game. The DFB has carried out the same exercise after unbundling the rights to its women’s league and women’s national team from the rights to men’s competitions, while at the same time guaranteeing significantly increased broadcasting exposure and distribution. The meeting also referenced the important role that women play in football administration, especially given shared experiences, but also the need for further empowerment in leading functions. Fatma Samoura became FIFA’s first female Secretary General in 2016, while Heike Ullrich has been the DFB’s General Secretary since 2022. She held the Deputy General Secretary role for two years before that, having previously been involved in women’s football at the DFB for over 20 years.