Mastercard and Visa are arguing over who gets to be the title sponsor of the next two World Cup soccer championships. Mastercard has been the sponsor for the last 16 years and claims that FIFA, the sport's ruling body, breached its contract with them by not allowing them to make another play for the sponsorship. Instead, FIFA simply named Visa the sponsor of the 2010 and 2014 World Cup tournaments. Mastercard took the issue to the US courts, who ruled that FIFA had to award the sponsorship to MasterCard. An appeal of that ruling, though, has halted the whole issue until the appeals process can work itself out. In the meantime FIFA and MasterCard have suspended all programs that were set to begin in January.Visa and MasterCard vying for World Cup sponsorship
Mastercard and Visa are arguing over who gets to be the title sponsor of the next two World Cup soccer championships. Mastercard has been the sponsor for the last 16 years and claims that FIFA, the sport's ruling body, breached its contract with them by not allowing them to make another play for the sponsorship. Instead, FIFA simply named Visa the sponsor of the 2010 and 2014 World Cup tournaments. Mastercard took the issue to the US courts, who ruled that FIFA had to award the sponsorship to MasterCard. An appeal of that ruling, though, has halted the whole issue until the appeals process can work itself out. In the meantime FIFA and MasterCard have suspended all programs that were set to begin in January.
