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MasterCard May Not Get Soccer Sponsorship Deal

  • Reuters, Tuesday, December 26, 2006 10:49 AM
Soccer's governing body does not have to immediately comply with a court order requiring it to grant MasterCard Inc. an eight-year World Cup sponsorship deal, pending the outcome of an appeal, says a federal judge.

However, U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska said in her ruling on Thursday that the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) could not proceed with a deal to switch sponsorship of the tournament to Visa International while the case was under appeal.

In April, the group handed Visa the rights for the 2010 and 2014 World Cups and MasterCard--official credit-card sponsor for the past 16 years --sued for breach of contract, arguing that it should have had first refusal for future tournaments.

Preska ruled earlier this month that FIFA improperly awarded sponsorship of the World Cup to Visa and ordered it to grant MasterCard advertising and sponsorship rights to the tournament for the period from 2007 to 2014.

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