Visa to Sponsor 2010 and 2014 FIFA World Cups

After winning a settlement from FIFA, MasterCard is stepping aside as the official card of the World Cup and finally – finally – Visa gets a piece of the FIFA card sponsorship pie, according to a Reuters story.

The new deal, which allows Visa to replace MasterCard as card sponsor for the 2010 and 2014 World Cup soccer shindigs, follows a June 21 settlement of $90 million paid by FIFA to MasterCard for earlier shenanigans where the Football Association tried to nudge MasterCard out of the way earlier to allow for Visa, who offered more money, to slip into that role.

MasterCard sued FIFA in April 2006, claiming that it had the right of “first refusal” on future sponsorships.  FIFA claimed it had no idea it was doing anything shady.  Visa sat quietly, hoping for a miracle.

MasterCard has said in a statement that it decided to settle for “business reasons” and that it no longer wanted to work with FIFA.

Visa’s agreement with FIFA will begin in July of this year when the Under-20 World Cup kicks off in Canada and will run until the end of the 2014 World Cup cycle.  Officially, the 2010 World Cup cycle begins in November 2007, when host nation South Africa announces preliminary pairings for the qualification round of the tournament.

Visa’s sponsorship will cost the world’s largest credit card network about $170 million (or, roughly .08 percent of my Visa credit limit – thanks, guys) – a steal, since it’s roughly $10 million less than it had originally offered.

“We look forward to activating our FIFA partnership,” said Kohn Elkins, executive vice president at Visa International, in a prepared statement.  “We know first hand how valuable a global sporting property can be in driving business.”