FIFA and Visa announced the extension of their relationship until '22, which includes the 2018 World Cup in Russia and the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. It also includes more than 40 FIFA events scheduled throughout the time period, including the FIFA Women’s World Cup and the FIFA U20 World Cup (FIFA). BLOOMBERG's Tariq Panja reported the world’s biggest bank-card network is the fifth FIFA partner "to commit to both the 2018 and 2022 World Cups," following adidas, Coca-Cola, Hyundai-Kia and Anheuser-Busch. Visa "joined FIFA’s roster of sponsors following a dispute" between the football body and its previous credit card sponsor, MasterCard, that was only settled after FIFA agreed to pay $90M in compensation. MasterCard "had been a FIFA partner for 16 years and argued it was contractually obliged to a first right of renewal." The "case hurt FIFA’s reputation with a judge describing its dealings as 'anything but fair play' and said its negotiators 'lied' to both MasterCard and Visa" (BLOOMBERG, 1/14).
News of the extension was first reported by SportsBusiness Journal in April.
