FIFA has rejected suggestions that "major sponsors were cutting their ties with the organization because it was a 'toxic brand,'" according to Mike Collett of REUTERS. The body said on Friday that it was in "advanced negotiations with new sponsors eager to replace the old." It was revealed on Friday that three major sponsors, Continental, Castrol and Johnson & Johnson, were not renewing their contracts. Emirates Airlines and Sony announced last year that "they were also severing their ties with FIFA." But FIFA Marketing Dir Thierry Weil said that those companies' contracts with FIFA were "always due to expire at the end of last year and new ones were negotiating to take their place." Weil: "Rotations at the end of a sponsorship cycle are commonplace in the sports industry and have continuously occurred since the commercialization of the FIFA World Cup began." But "not everyone is convinced" that FIFA, which has been "buffeted by one crisis after another over the last few years, is still a name sponsors want to be associated with" (REUTERS, 1/23). The AP reported it is "widely expected that Samsung and Qatar Airways will step in as replacements." Russian energy company Gazprom has "also signed a top-tier deal." Weil cited "advanced negotiations" with potential partners for the 2018 World Cup, where FIFA intends on "having more sponsors" than in '14. FIFA plans for 20 third-tier sponsors on "regional deals worldwide instead of eight national sponsors in the host country" (AP, 1/23). BREAKING NEWS reported none of the sponsors have blamed the "bad publicity surrounding FIFA corruption allegations for the decision to end their relationships with world football’s governing body" (BREAKING NEWS, 1/23).
