Another sponsor of soccer's global governing body FIFA, on this occasion Bank of America, has expanded its tie-up with the organization to cover the inaugural Club World Cup (CWC) in the US next June and July.
Through a deal unveiled yesterday (December 3), the US financial institution becomes the CWC’s third commercial partner, joining AB InBev and Hisense.
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This adds to the existing FIFA-Bank of America deal, through which the brand became the soccer body’s first global banking partner in August. At that point, the deal only covered the 2026 men’s FIFA World Cup, to be held across Mexico, the US, and Canada.
GlobalData Sport valued the original tie-up at $40 million in total.
Now, that agreement has been enlarged to also cover the first edition of the expanded CWC, which from this edition onwards will contain 32 teams (up from seven previously).
Bank of America’s most prominent sports partnership in the US is through the naming rights sponsorship of the 74,867-capacity home of the NFL’s Carolina Panthers, the Bank of America Stadium in North Carolina, which it has sponsored since 2004 and will host CWC action.
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By GlobalDataGianni Infantino, president of FIFA, has now said: “In recent months we’ve enjoyed detailed discussions with Bank of America’s leadership about FIFA’s mission both on and off the pitch, so we’re delighted that they’ve joined us on our journey to redefine global club football in addition to working side-by-side with us for FIFA World Cup 2026.”
Up until the Hisense tie-up (also an expansion of an existing arrangement) was unveiled in late October, FIFA had no sponsors (or indeed broadcast partners) on board for the 32-team CWC, which is less than seven months away but which has proved extremely controversial with many of soccer’s major stakeholders.
Clubs and players in particular are unhappy about the extra games and workload, with a formal complaint and legal action by the players union FIFPRO having been filed around this issue earlier in the year.
In terms of other sponsorship agreements disclosed by FIFA recently, meanwhile, in mid-October multinational tech heavyweight Lenovo came in as a partner for the 2026 and 2030 World Cups. The governing body’s top sponsor lineup also includes brands such as Aramco, Visa, and Qatar Airways.
The 2025 FIFA CWC will entail a new format in which continental governing bodies will all – apart from the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) – receive multiple team slots.
Europe’s UEFA, with 12, will have the most teams. The lineup will include Chelsea, Real Madrid, Manchester City, Bayern Munich, PSG, Inter Milan, Porto, Benfica, Borussia Dortmund, Juventus, Atletico Madrid, and Red Bull Salzburg.
Brian Moynihan, Bank of America’s chair and chief executive, added: “This partnership with FIFA, for both World Cup 2026 and now Club World Cup 2025, sharpens our focus on deepening client relationships through the most iconic sporting events in the world, and generating lasting economic impact, globally and locally.”
