Who’s winning the World Cup before kick-off?

Key takeaways:

• World Cup 2026 is becoming a major commercial platform for food and beverage manufacturers, with FIFA forecasting $13bn in revenue and sponsorship income expected to exceed $2.8bn – more than double Qatar 2022.
• PepsiCo, Mondelez and Kellanova are activating entire portfolios rather than individual brands, signalling a shift towards multi-category, tournament-wide marketing strategies.
• The tournament’s expansion to 104 matches over 39 days is creating more opportunities for product innovation, promotions and consumer engagement, but manufacturers will ultimately be judged on whether those investments deliver incremental sales growth.

FIFA World Cup 2026 hasn’t kicked off yet, but the spending race surrounding it is already underway.

Walkers has enlisted Lionel Messi, David Beckham and Thierry Henry. Mondelez has recruited Christian Pulisic, Alex Morgan, Sophia Wilson and Pitbull. Budweiser has paired Erling Haaland with Jürgen Klopp. And across North America and Europe, manufacturers have launched promotions, celebrity-fronted campaigns, digital activations and limited-edition products designed to capture attention long before the opening whistle on 11 June.

The backdrop is the biggest tournament FIFA has ever staged.

This year, the competition expands from 32 teams to 48 and from 64 matches to 104. FIFA has increased its projected revenue for the 2023-2026 cycle to $13bn, up from approximately $7.5bn in the previous cycle. Sponsorship revenues are expected to exceed $2.8bn, while broadcasting revenues are forecast to approach $4bn. FIFA has already sold all 16 of its global sponsorship packages for the tournament.

Audience figures are equally compelling. FIFA says the 2022 World Cup engaged around five billion people globally across television, digital and social channels. That year’s final attracted between 1.4 billion and 1.5 billion viewers. Social media impressions reached 262 billion, while engagement around the final increased by 621% compared with 2018.

NielsenIQ research suggests manufacturers have good reason for their optimism. The market researcher found that 76% of US viewers and 80% of Canadian viewers are planning World Cup watch parties, while separate industry estimates suggest as many as 34 million people in the UK could watch at least part of the tournament, with 54% expecting to follow matches from home. That potentially translates into six weeks of demand across snacks, confectionery, beverages and meal solutions rather than a single event-driven sales spike.

And unlike many major sporting events, the World Cup provides brands with weeks rather than hours to engage consumers. The tournament runs for 39 days, creating repeated opportunities to drive purchases, launch promotions and build visibility.

“With crisps a classic choice when watching sport, the FIFA World Cup 2026 is a key calendar moment for retailers to drive category growth,” notes Rob Potheir, portfolio marketing director at Walkers. “The activity across our core range, supported by a standout on-pack activation, aims to support retailers in achieving exactly that.”

The World Cup is becoming a portfolio play

No food company appears to be investing more heavily than PepsiCo.

The snacking giant has activated Walkers, Doritos, Wotsits and Lay’s simultaneously, combining celebrity endorsements, on-pack promotions, prize mechanics and product launches across multiple brands. Messi, Beckham, Henry, Alexia Putellas and Steve Carell all feature in campaign activity, giving PepsiCo one of the strongest ambassador line-ups attached to the tournament.

Then there’s the consumer activation. Promotional packs offer consumers the chance to win merch, home-viewing bundles, food delivery vouchers and cash prizes worth £10,000. PepsiCo’s FIFA 2026 programme runs from May through August, giving retailers almost three months of tournament-linked activity.

Kellanova and Mondelez are pursuing a similar approach. Kellanova has activated Pringles, Cheez-It, Pop-Tarts, Rice Krispies Treats and Town House. For its part, Mondelez is supporting Chips Ahoy!, Ritz, Sour Patch Kids, Swedish Fish and BelVita through its Summer of Soccer campaign.

And like PepsiCo, both companies have moved beyond the traditional model of attaching a single flagship product to a major sporting event.

Kellanova’s activity spans breakfast, family snacking and sharing occasions with a wave of limited-edition products. Pringles has brought back its Spicy Loaded Nachos flavour alongside a new Italian Meatball variety, while Cheez-It has launched Flags & Stars crackers and a Chili Cheese Dog flavour. Pop-Tarts has introduced a Star-Spangled Blueberry variant, Rice Krispies Treats has rolled out Red, White & Blue Sprinkles Treats, and Town House has unveiled star- and flag-shaped crackers. The breadth of the launches illustrates how Kellanova is using the tournament to activate multiple categories simultaneously, from breakfast and snacking to crackers and sharing occasions.

Kellanova’s owner, Mars Snacking, says the aim was to create a line-up that captured the “energy and passion” of football fans.

Mondelez, for its part, has brought together biscuits, crackers and confectionery under one football platform while backing the programme with celebrity support from Pulisic, Morgan, Wilson and Pitbull.

Collectively, these three majors are activating more than a dozen brands around the tournament, suggesting the industry increasingly views the World Cup as a portfolio opportunity rather than a platform for one-off product launches.

Global audiences, global flavours

The World Cup offers something few other sporting events can match: access to multiple national identities and food cultures through a single global platform.

And no manufacturer has leaned harder into that opportunity than PepsiCo.

Through Lay’s alone, the company has launched a 40-flavour FIFA World Cup 2026 programme inspired by cuisines from participating nations. PepsiCo has tailored flavours to individual markets, creating one of the largest tournament-linked flavour programmes ever seen in snacks. The line-up includes Argentinian-Style Steak with Chimichurri, Brazilian-Style Garlic Sauce, Canadian Maple Caramel, English Bangers & Mash, French Onion Soup, Mexican Tacos and Portuguese Chorizo & Onion, alongside World Cup-themed launches across Walkers and Doritos. The products are supported by ticket giveaways and other promotional activity tied to the tournament.

The scale of the programme reflects the unique challenge and opportunity presented by the World Cup. Unlike most sporting events, it allows manufacturers to celebrate dozens of national cuisines simultaneously, turning food culture into a marketing platform in its own right.

The tournament’s influence is also extending beyond traditional snacking. Bridor, through its specialist bread subsidiary Pandriks, has launched a limited-edition Soccer Bun for bakery, food-to-go and casual dining operators. The stone-baked sourdough roll features a football-patterned crust designed to help operators capitalise on match-day demand. Meanwhile, Kraft Heinz has introduced a Soccer Shapes version of Kraft Mac & Cheese and BuzzBallz has unveiled eight World Cup-themed cocktail flavours, underlining how manufacturers across categories are using the tournament to drive seasonal innovation and incremental sales.

Snacks are challenging beverages for attention

For decades, beverage companies have dominated World Cup sponsorship.

Coca-Cola has sponsored FIFA since 1978 and remains one of the tournament’s longest-standing commercial partners. Budweiser, McDonald’s and Visa have similarly built long-term associations with football’s biggest event.

Coca-Cola continues to support the tournament through Powerade and wider promotional activity. AB InBev has recruited Haaland and Klopp to front its latest Budweiser campaign.

Diageo, meanwhile, is activating Casamigos, Don Julio, Buchanan’s and Johnnie Walker across all 16 host cities as Official Spirits Supporter across North, Central and South America. Its travel retail programme alone spans 34 airports and includes more than 100 activations.

FIFA’s sponsorship inventory may be sold out, but the battle for consumer attention is only just beginning. Beverage companies continue to dominate the official partner roster, but much of the most visible tournament-linked product innovation this year is coming from the snacks aisle. That represents a notable shift from previous tournaments, where soft drinks and beer brands largely controlled the conversation.

Can the investment be justified?

The expansion from 64 matches to 104 creates 40 additional fixtures compared with Qatar 2022. For sponsors, that means more inventory; for manufacturers, it means more opportunities for activation. But it also means more competition.

PepsiCo, Mondelez and Kellanova are no longer competing solely against one another. They’re competing against Coca-Cola, Budweiser, McDonald’s, Diageo and dozens of other brands attempting to attach themselves to the same event.

The first match doesn’t kick off until 11 June. But for PepsiCo, Mondelez, Kellanova, Coca-Cola, AB InBev and Diageo, the return-on-investment calculations have already begun.