McDonald’s ends its FIFA World Cup sponsorship after 32 years

McDonald’s confirmed in a statement that its FIFA World Cup sponsorship will end when the current agreement runs out. The brand has been linked to the tournament since the 1994 World Cup in the United States. Adweek first reported the decision, and Nation’s Restaurant News published the company statement on 26 October 2026.

The 2026 World Cup campaign missed McDonald’s targets

The exit comes a few months after McDonald’s biggest World Cup push so far. Wieden+Kennedy New York created the campaign, which the company called its largest marketing effort of 2026. Adweek says it ran in more than 110 countries, while NRN puts it at about 100 markets.

On the second-quarter earnings call, CFO Ian Borden said the campaign “underperformed versus our expectations”, although it gave the business a lift. NRN reports that US same-store sales rose just 0.8% in the second quarter and are expected to fall in the current one.

CMO Morgan Flatley wants less borrowed IP

Chief marketing officer Morgan Flatley said in an interview last month: “I think we’ve become overly reliant on borrowed IP.” She added that partnerships of this kind should be used selectively. McDonald’s says the decision is unrelated to recent headlines about FIFA.

The company is not leaving sport. It has put its name on the Chicago Fire FC stadium, now called McDonald’s Park. It also backs Formula 1 in Latin America, the French top league Ligue 1 McDonald’s and the McDonald’s All-American Games.

Brands move money from tournaments to year-round deals

Inside World Football notes that brands now often prefer year-round deals with leagues, clubs and athletes to short and costly tournament windows. Doubts about returns are common: an IPA study found six in ten sponsorship professionals doubt their deals pay off. McDonald’s has also been building its own media, for example by selling other brands’ ads on its menu boards.

The deal ends with the agreement that covered this summer’s men’s World Cup. That makes the 2030 men’s tournament the first since 1990 without McDonald’s among FIFA’s sponsors.