FIFA’s major corporate sponsors are worried.
But none of them are yet backing out of any deals after corruption charges against the world’s premier soccer organization.
One of its major sponsors, Coca-Cola, said in a statement that the “controversy has tarnished the mission and ideals of the FIFA World Cup.” The company said it has “repeatedly expressed our concerns about these serious allegations.”
The U.S. Department of Justice on Wednesday indicted 14 people, including senior soccer executives, in a sweeping corruption probe spanning the globe. American officials said their investigation is continuing and Switzerland is conducting its own probe.
U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch also implicated at least one American company in the corruption allegations. Without going into any detail, she said the investigation included the “sponsorship of the Brazilian national soccer team by a major U.S. sportswear company,” the 2011 FIFA presidential election and the site of the 2010 World Cup.
McDonald’s said in a statement that it “takes matters of ethics and corruption very seriously” and that it is in contact with FIFA and is monitoring the situation closely.
Adidas called on FIFA to raise its standards.
“The Adidas Group is fully committed to creating a culture that promotes the highest standards of ethics and compliance, and we expect the same from our partners,” the company said.
Adidas said that it will “encourage FIFA to continue to establish and follow transparent compliance standards in everything they do.”
Budweiser’s parent company, Anheuser-Busch, said, “We expect all of our partners to maintain strong ethical standards and operate with transparency. We continue to closely monitor the situation through our ongoing communications with FIFA.”
Visa declined to comment because of the ongoing legal proceedings.
Adidas and Visa paid an average of $32 million a year for their partnership deals with FIFA, while Coca-Cola, McDonald’s and Budweiser forked over an average of $19 million each, according to estimates by IEG, a consulting and research firm.
All told, FIFA will pocket a total of about $1.6 billion from its major sponsors over a four-year period between 2011 and 2014, IEG calculated.
