LONDON—The 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup is set to generate the highest sponsorship revenue in the competition’s history, with combined media rights and sponsorship revenues expected to exceed $6 billion, per research firm Ampere Analysis.
The expanded 48-team tournament, to be held June 11 to July 19 across the U.S., Canada and Mexico, has created significant opportunities for brand promotion, Ampere said. The United Kingdom-based research estimates that it will generate at least $3.8 billion in rights fee revenues and $2.4 billion in sponsorship revenues.
Much of that commercial growth has been driven by the U.S. role as a host nation, Ampere said, with the value of stateside media rights up 94% from the 2022 men’s World Cup in Qatar. U.S.-based brands now account for more than half of World Cup sponsorship revenue, Ampere said.
“This edition of the FIFA Men’s World Cup is attracting record levels of sponsorship investment due to the increase in participating teams and the expanded number of matches,“ Chloe Ng-Triquet, analyst, sponsorship at Ampere, said. “Hailed as the ’biggest’ Men’s World Cup ever, brands have identified every opportunity to capitalise on innovative activations. With the additional hydration breaks during each game’s quarter, brands have more space to advertise. Despite no major sponsors for the events headquartered in Canada or Mexico, the U.S. houses some of the biggest brands globally, helping drive the sponsorship revenue to an all-time high.”
Ampere currently estimates media rights revenues for the 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup at $3.8 billion, up 22% from the 2022 tournament, with some deals still to be agreed for markets in Asia. Traditional linear broadcasters are still the dominant rightsholders, Ampere said, but streaming services are investing more in the competition. DAZN, for instance, will stream the World Cup in three major markets, Japan, Italy and Spain.
Ampere expects sponsorship revenues to reach at least $2.4 billion, a 37% increase from Qatar 2022. Spending is being driven by new sponsors such as DoorDash, Bank of America and ADI Predict Street, as well as historic sponsors like Adidas, Coca-Cola, and Visa. U.S.-based brands account for 52% of sponsorship revenue, up from 36% in 2022. No companies based in Canada or Mexico have signed on as sponsors yet.
“While we estimate that FIFA is currently under its target for media rights revenue for this Men’s World Cup, deals have yet to be confirmed for some markets in Asia,” Ampere Senior Analyst, Sports Media Rights Danni Moore said. “However, even without those agreements in place, the 2026 edition of the tournament is generating the highest media rights values FIFA has achieved to date as a result of growth across several markets. As the country with the highest investment in sports rights globally, the growth in the US market, driven by its role as one of the host nations, has had a considerable impact on the overall value of the 2026 event.”
