Women’s World Cup: Gianni Infantino insists FIFA is ‘a pioneer’ for women’s football after equal pay criticism
FIFA President Gianni Infantino has told Sky News that men should not be “imposing what they think women football should be” and copying the men’s game in a “bad way”.
In an exclusive interview ahead of the Women’s World Cup final, Mr Infantino said FIFA was “a pioneer” investing in women’s football – contrary to criticism of the governing body.
It comes after the boss of world football remarked that women need to “convince us men” what is needed and to “pick the right fights” that had been “misinterpreted or misused” – highlighting parts of the world that are not convinced of the need to invest in women’s football.
Asked about the backlash, Mr Infantino urged critics: “To come, to join, to speak together, to move ahead together, to believe in what we do, to believe in doing the right things. Together we are all stronger and together we can change things.”
England players celebrate in the dressing room after their win
Sydney is preparing for the conclusion of the biggest-ever Women’s World Cup – with England and Spain meeting in their first final on Sunday – after record audiences and revenue of $570m (£448m) anticipated.
In a conversation near the Sydney Harbour Bridge, Mr Infantino told Sky News: “What I would like to see is indeed women to tell us how women’s football should be rather than men imposing what they think women’s football should be, often copying men’s football and maybe copying in a bad way.
“So we want to pioneer. As far as FIFA is concerned, and as far as I am concerned, I think we have shown with the facts around the world that we are very open, that we are transparent, that our doors are wide, wide open.
“We know as well that not all of us everywhere in the world are open and together with women… everyone together, all those who have the same philosophy, things have to change further still, after the battles we all made to change many things.
“Well together – let’s fight to open all those doors that are not yet open – to make them as open as the FIFA ones and open them even more and get to where we all want to get to.
“I think if we do that, if we go on together, the results will be even much better than this fantastic World Cup, which was already great.”
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But Mr Infantino has faced criticism for the number of games he has attended at the women’s tournament, compared to the men’s finals in Qatar last year.
And the speech he made on Friday has taken some of the headlines away from the final at Stadium Australia – with scrutiny focusing on his tone when talking about growing women’s football.
In response, Mr Infantino said: “Sometimes it’s important that people listen to the entirety of a discussion, of reasoning, because sometimes – indeed taken out of context – some words might be misinterpreted or misused.
“I think that what FIFA has done in the last few years has been acting really as a pioneer in women’s football.
“We have been increasing the prize money 10 times compared to when I started.”
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FIFA urged to equal prize money
He added: “The conditions for men and women players of national teams are absolutely equal already – Qatar World Cup for the men’s, Australia-New Zealand World Cup for the women. Exactly the same condition. Because it’s global, because it’s how it has to be.
“We are pushing it further. We are working towards a path of equal pay.”
The Lionesses will be playing for their share of an increased prize pot of $110m (£86.1m) for this tournament. This is more than three times than what was on offer for the 2019 Women’s World Cup in France, but still significantly less than the $440m (£346m) awarded at the 2022 men’s competition in Qatar.
Elon Musk could be on track for a $1trn pay packet.
Tesla shareholders have approved the whopping financial package for the CEO – who’s already worth an estimated $491bn – if he hits a series of ambitious targets over the next 10 years.
But that $1trn figure (or £761,910,000,000) – which is both one thousand billion and one million million – is almost impossible to imagine for most people.
Even so, we have drilled down into the numbers and examined what you can do with a trillion US dollars – and it turns out, quite a lot.
Show me the money
Laid end to end, a trillion one-dollar bills would cover a distance of approximately 156 billion metres.
That could wrap around the equator 3,890 times, easily reach the sun from Earth (around 149.6 million km) or loop from Earth to the moon 405 times.
That many one-dollar notes could cover a massive area (roughly 10,339 km squared), meaning you could blanket nearly all of Lebanon or Jamaica in bills.
Spend it on sport
You could splash out on virtually all of the world’s major sporting leagues.
The clubs which make up the Premier League are relatively cheap ($30bn), and even when snapping up the UEFA Champions League clubs and the big five top divisions of Spain, Italy, Germany, and France, there’s still $858bn left in the kitty.
The four major US sports leagues for ice hockey, baseball, basketball, and American football (NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL) have a rough valuation of $544bn, according to Sportico.
But then add the IPL cricket league ($120bn) and F1 ($23.1bn) and Musk still has change from an estimated total spend of $829.7bn.
Elon Musk is in the money if he hits targets set by Tesla’s shareholders. File pic: AP
Take over Tesla’s rivals
He could buy up the top 15 largest publicly traded automakers (excluding Tesla) by market capitalisation.
They would include firms like Japan’s Toyota ($275bn), Chinese automaker BYD ($120bn), and luxury brands like Ferrari ($81bn) and Mercedes-Benz ($62bn), as well as BMW ($52bn), Volkswagen ($50bn) and Ford ($48bn).
But there would still be a little change left over; the total bill would be an eye-watering $992bn.
Buy up San Diego
He could buy up every single residential property in San Diego County – valued at a total of $1trn. Seattle is just slightly out of reach at $1.1trn, according to recent data from real estate firm Zillow.
But if he wanted to buy big – there is always Tennessee. The total value of homes in the US state is estimated at $957bn. Or there is Maryland, which at $1.01trn could be bought if he can find a little more cash behind the sofa.
Sadly, he would struggle to scoop up London’s entire housing stock, which in February was valued at just under £2trn ($2.53trn), according to agents Savills.
Cities like New York ($4.6trn) and Los Angeles ($3.9trn) are also not within his budget, hosting America’s most expensive residential markets.
Do something charitable?
There is always the possibility Musk could follow in the footsteps of Microsoft founder Bill Gates, who intends to give away 99% of his vast fortune over the next 20 years.
He could give every single man, woman, and child in the US a share of his cash pile. They would receive approximately $2,917.32 (£2,223.29), based on a population estimate of 342.7 million.
Although it would be roughly $14,348.79 (£10,935.20) for every person (roughly 69.6 million) in the UK.
If he wanted to give the entire globe an early Christmas present, then based on the rough world population estimate of 8.2 billion, everyone would receive $121.80 (£92.87).
Pay off the credit card
With $1trn, he could instantly rewrite history and erase debt interest payments and the government debt from dozens of the world’s sovereign nations.
Or Musk could wipe out the debts of Singapore ($1trn) or South Korea ($0.99trn) in one go, according to figures from the International Monetary Fund’s latest World Economic Outlook (Oct 2025).
But when it comes to the biggest debt-laden countries, $1trn would not even touch the sides.
The US has $38.3trn of government debt (just over one third of the total global debt pile) while the UK has a modest $4.1trn.
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