Philippines Sees Filipinas Inaugural Participation in Women’s World Cup as Inspiration for Women’s Economic Empowerment
Ambassador and Philippine Permanent Representative to the WTO Manuel Teehankee (far left) with Swiss National Team Members and New Zealand Ambassador Claire Kelly (far right). The Filipinas will be facing both Switzerland and New Zealand in their World Cup Group. (Geneva PM photo)
GENEVA 30 June 2023 - The WTO and FIFA organized a high-level dialogue at the WTO Secretariat on 01 May 2023 on “Making Trade Score for Women”, with WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and FIFA President Gianni Infantino emphasizing the role football and international trade play in empowering women. The New Zealand and Australian Missions to the WTO supported the event as hosts of the upcoming FIFA Women’s World Cup in July, with 32 countries including the Philippines qualified to vie for the coveted trophy. The event also served as the Geneva leg of the FIFA Women’s World Cup Trophy Tour. The Women’s World Cup Trophy has already journeyed through Manila and will cross through all participating countries before its arrival in Wellington, New Zealand in time for the initial kick off on 20 July 2023.
FIFA expects two billion viewers for the Women’s World Cup this July and has tripled the prize money from the last World Cup in 2019 — from USD 50 million (₱2,772,825,000.00) to USD 152 million (₱8,429,387,944.54).
Mr. Infantino emphasized the importance of the upcoming Women's World Cup, which constitutes a crucial aspect of FIFA's global strategy to invest ambitiously in women's football and that “what is more important than that is we want to see the game developing, and women’s football, women’s empowerment, is a very significant part of that.” With services trade continuing to be the fastest expanding economic sector, with average growth of 8% per year since 2005, Director-General Okonjo-Iweala emphasized “How can we grab a bigger slice of that trade in digitally delivered services? There is a lot of money involved in intellectual property. I´d like us to think how developing countries can monetize some of these IP rights in the football economy.”
Philippine Ambassador Manuel A.J. Teehankee, Permanent Representative of the Philippines to the WTO, noted that while football and world trade may seem unrelated, they are connected through economics, globalization and trade policies of the football, apparel, entertainment, and advertising industries. He further noted that there is growing recognition and appetite in the quality of the footballing product. This was recently manifested with more than 80,000 fans recently filling Wembley stadium in London to capacity for the Women’s FA Cup Final, and with millions more watching from home. Ambassador Teehankee noted the recent partnership between the Philippine Football Federation and Adidas as a welcome opportunity to boost the profile of the Filipinas and encouraged Filipinos to show their support across the globe. He noted that “I have been talking to my colleagues from Switzerland, Norway, New Zealand and Australia about organizing viewing parties… I feel that the Filipinas participation at the World Cup is transformational, it will further encourage millions of youth to pursue sport as a viable pathway to success. The development of our national sports industries can have enormous multiplier effects by investing in new infrastructure, creating new entertainment revenue streams, and cultivating healthy lifestyles.”
The Philippines is slated to launch its World Cup campaign against Switzerland on 21 July 2023 in Dunedin, New Zealand. END
FIFA President Gianni Infantino (far left) and WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala (far right) opening the event. (Geneva PM photo)
WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala with the Swiss National Team. (Geneva PM photo)
For more information, visit https://www.genevapm.dfa.gov.ph, https://www.facebook.com/PHinGeneva/ or https://www.instagram.com/phingeneva/.