Soccer’s global governing body FIFA just got richer by $170m after striking a deal with Visa, which also marked the end of a bitter dispute over the sponsorship for the 2010 and 2014 World Cups.
Mastercard has been sponsoring each and every World Cup since 1990 but this year, the credit card giant lashed out at FIFA for the deal with Visa and also took legal action against the governing body.
Caught in an awkward situation, FIFA had to shell out $90m to placate Mastercard, which vacated the scene, saying it was no longer interested to walk hand-in-hand with FIFA. That was the end of Mastercard’s $180m sponsorship deal.
John Elkins, the executive vice president of Visa International, felt the deal would help his company reach out through the global soccer extravaganza.
He said
We look forward to activating our FIFA partnership. We know first hand how valuable a global sporting property can be in driving business.
With this deal, Visa now boasts of sponsoring rights of major sports events that include Olympic Games, Rugby World Cup and now soccer World Cup.
