Visa International’s newly signed $200 million sponsorship of Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) World Cup soccer events may be in jeopardy following a complaint filed by MasterCard International claiming the soccer body breached its agreement.
The complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York last week, claims that FIFA entered into an eight-year sponsorship agreement with Visa beginning in 2007 despite an agreement penned in March, which granted those rights to MasterCard.
As a result, MasterCard is seeking an injunction against FIFA to prevent it from moving forward with the Visa deal.
“This action by FIFA is a blatant and deceitful violation of our right of first refusal,” said Noah Hanft, general counsel, MasterCard in a statement, “Particularly as we had already signed and accepted FIFA’s offer.”
MasterCard plans to pursue legal action to compel FIFA to honor the written and binding agreement it has with MasterCard, providing for the company to be an official sponsor of the next two FIFA World Cups, Hanft said.
“The mere announcement by Visa that it has acquired the World Cup and associated rights…together with a flood of announcements and quotes from Visa officials to various media around the world, already have seriously undermined MasterCard’s marketing efforts and jeopardized its other soccer-related sponsorships,” the complaint states.
When Visa announced its FIFA sponsorship on April 10, it said in a statement: “Visa will enjoy a higher level of association with FIFA than previous category sponsors and will enjoy rights to a broader range of FIFA activities including exclusive marketing assets, competitions, special events and development programs.” (Xtra, April 6)
Visa also indicated that it would work together with FIFA on a global basis to create exclusive Visa payment programs around FIFA activities.
“As only Visa can, we will work with our extensive network of 20,000 member financial institutions to convey the zeal and excitement of soccer to hundreds of millions of Visa cardholders worldwide,” said Visa International President and CEO Christopher Rodrigues in a statement announcing its sponsorship. “This partnership will allow us to bring our cardholders programs that touch the very core of their passion for the game both globally and locally. The FIFA Partnership truly delivers on Visa’s strategy of associating with the world’s best brands and complements our strong global brand position.”
Visa, FIFA and MasterCard officials could not be reached for further comment.
MasterCard has sponsored World Cup events since 1990 and uses the events to activate its “Priceless” advertising campaign. The company is the official payment sponsor of this year’s FIFA World Cup in Germany, which begins in June.
The last World Cup in 2002 reached a cumulative TV audience of 28.8 billion viewers.
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