McDonald’s ends 32-yr FIFA World Cup sponsorship as marketing strategy shifts to owned IP

Fast-food giant will end one of sport’s longest-running sponsorships after its 2026 World Cup campaign underperformed expectations

by e4m Staff
Published: Oct 26, 2026 8:09 AM | 2 min read

McDonald’s ends 32-yr FIFA World Cup sponsorship as marketing strategy shifts to owned IP

McDonald's is ending its 32-year sponsorship of the FIFA World Cup, which began in 1994, following a significant marketing campaign for the 2026 tournament that did not meet expectations.
CFO Ian Borden noted that while the campaign generated enthusiasm, it underperformed, coinciding with a slowdown in US growth for the company.
The decision reflects a broader shift in McDonald's marketing strategy, focusing more on its own intellectual property rather than relying on external partnerships and sponsorships.
FIFA confirmed that McDonald's current agreement will expire at the end of 2026, and the company plans to continue investing in sports through other partnerships, independent of recent FIFA controversies.

McDonald’s is ending its 32-year sponsorship of the FIFA World Cup, bringing to a close a relationship that began with the 1994 tournament in the United States.

The move follows the company’s biggest-ever World Cup marketing push during the 2026 tournament, a campaign created by Wieden+Kennedy New York and rolled out across more than 110 countries. McDonald’s had positioned the activation as its largest marketing programme of the year.

However, McDonald’s CFO Ian Borden said during the company’s second-quarter earnings call that while the campaign had lifted the business and generated strong enthusiasm across the system, it had “underperformed versus our expectations.” US growth also slowed during the period.

The decision is part of a broader rethink of McDonald’s marketing model, with the company increasingly prioritising its own intellectual property and brand platforms rather than relying too heavily on what executives have described as “borrowed equities” such as major entertainment franchises, sporting events and cultural partnerships.

Borden has previously cautioned that brands cannot simply “promo” their way to long-term growth through a constant calendar of external tie-ups, suggesting McDonald’s intends to be more selective about when it borrows cultural relevance from outside properties.

FIFA confirmed that McDonald’s current agreement expires at the end of 2026. The company has said the decision is unrelated to recent controversies surrounding FIFA and that it will continue investing in sport through other partnerships.

For marketers, the shift is notable because McDonald’s is moving in the opposite direction from the broader rush toward ever-larger sports sponsorships. After three decades of buying access to one of the world’s biggest audiences, the company appears to be asking a more fundamental question: when does borrowed attention stop being worth the price compared with building cultural properties a brand can own outright?