An investment to value women's football. FIFA will double its budget for women's football, and invest one billion dollars over the next four years, said Thursday, October 24, the president of the International Football Federation, Gianni Infantino.

"The [Fifa] Council has decided to allocate 500 million in addition to the 500 million already budgeted," said Gianni Infantino at a press conference in Shanghai.

To increase the possibilities of competitions for women, Fifa will also begin a reflection on the creation of a Women's World League for the selections - on the model developed in men by the UEFA especially for the League of Nations - with regional divisions, promotions and relegations.

Towards new female competitions ?

Other tracks discussed, that of setting up a Women's Club World Cup and developing tournaments for young people. The creation or not of these competitions will be decided in March 2020.

Beyond the investment on its own funds, FIFA also wants to better value the contracts signed for the next Women's World Cup, which will take place in 2023: "Fifa plans to renegotiate the contracts of the Women's World Cup, to offer much larger bonuses [to the players], "another source close to the Council told AFP.

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After the World Cup, Gianni Infantino said he was determined to continue his expansion plans for the next tournament, qualifying the 2019 vintage as "the best Women's World Cup in history".

Doubling the envelope for the players

FIFA has already announced that the number of teams participating in the 2023 World would increase from 24 to 32. The President of Fifa has also proposed the doubling of the envelope for players at the next Women's World Cup, which will increase from $ 30 million (or € 27 million) in 2019 - an amount that had already doubled compared to 2015 - to 60 million in 2023 (or € 54 million).

In comparison, Fifa has distributed $ 400 million (€ 359 million) in bonuses for the 2018 World Men's, an envelope that will increase by 40 million for the 2022 World (€ 36 million).

With AFP