World Cup fever is spreading far beyond the stadiums as fans gather in restaurants, bars and public spaces across Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Dallas, Atlanta, New York, and in Canada, Vancouver and Toronto, and in Mexico, Guadalajara, Mexico City and Veracruz. Watch parties are also being held at The Great Park of Irvine, where the U.S. National Team is training, as fans follow one of the world’s largest sporting events.
Despite hot weather, rain and long travel schedules, fans and visitors continue to stop for photos, wear their national team jerseys, and take part in the excitement surrounding match venues and fan-oriented sites. World Cup visitors from various countries have generated huge revenues, estimated to be more than $500 million USD. It is also a unique time during the United States 250-year celebration, as many visitors are being exposed to U.S. culture while also sharing their own cultures, with flags from every nation in the competition being proudly displayed. “The matches are on nearly every TV in restaurants,” one fan said. “Everywhere you go, someone’s wearing a soccer jersey.”
The World Cup has long been one of the largest platforms for global advertising and corporate partnerships. The stakes are enormous. FIFA is expected to generate between $2.5 billion and $3 billion USD in sponsorship revenue from the 2026 World Cup, making it one of the most commercially valuable sporting events ever staged and a coveted platform for companies seeking global visibility. According to FIFA, the soccer, futbol, or football extended family is estimated at over 3.5 billion to 5 billion worldwide. Having been part of the soccer family as a player, staff member, marketing and promotions director, general manager of professional soccer teams, coach, youth soccer developer, and creator, organizer and conductor of the first Nike Free Soccer Clinics, I have participated at nearly every level of the sport. I was also part of a group that conducted fan exit studies for sponsors. The study results stated that 94% of fans would support sponsors who support soccer. It is for this reason that some of the world’s top companies and brands, including Adidas, Coca-Cola, Hyundai-Kia, Visa, Qatar Airways, Aramco and Lenovo, have made major investments in the FIFA World Cup.
FIFA sponsorships are usually set into three categories or tiers. Tier One includes the largest investments and features global brands investing an estimated $150 million to over $200 million per four-year cycle. Tier Two sponsors include AB InBev, Bank of America, Frito-Lay, Hisense, McDonald’s, Mengniu Dairy, Unilever and Verizon, with investments often estimated in the $80 million to $100 million range. Tier Three brands and regional supporters, such as Airbnb, American Airlines, DoorDash, Marriott Bonvoy and The Home Depot, activate in specific markets with deals often estimated from $35 million to $50 million.
China is not known globally for its men’s soccer program and did not qualify for the 2026 Men’s World Cup. However, China’s women’s soccer program has long been respected internationally, and Chinese companies and brands have had a growing visual and commercial presence in recent World Cups.
Although China’s men’s national team is not competing in this year’s tournament, Chinese companies are a major part of the World Cup’s commercial and technology ecosystem. In many ways, this business presence may have a larger global impact than the visibility of China’s men’s soccer team itself. This year, Chinese companies are appearing across the tournament platform in different ways, from sponsorship and brand visibility to technology systems supporting how the tournament is run and watched.
Chinese brands maintain a significant presence at the 2026 FIFA World Cup. While there are fewer direct FIFA Partners than in some recent tournaments, major corporations such as Lenovo, Hisense and Mengniu Dairy serve as official global sponsors or partners, while other Chinese brands are gaining visibility through regional marketing, merchandise, fan engagement and international business activation. Inside a sprawling broadcast and technology operation connected to the tournament, devices and systems supplied by Lenovo are helping FIFA manage and distribute content from stadiums across the United States, Canada and Mexico. This forms part of the technological backbone of the largest World Cup ever staged. Lenovo is an official sponsor and serves as FIFA’s Official Technology Partner. FIFA says the company is providing technology support that includes AI-enabled devices, hardware, infrastructure, software, solutions and services for tournament operations, broadcasting and fan-facing services. In a tournament featuring 48 teams, 16 host cities and millions of visitors, technology has become as important behind the scenes as the action on the field.
Hisense has previously worked with FIFA during the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, as well as the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup. Extending a partnership with FIFA that began in 2017, Hisense is an official sponsor of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. For Hisense, the tournament offers visibility in a setting closely tied to live sports viewing, which is part of the company’s core business. FIFA says the partnership focuses on television display technology and innovations designed to improve the fan experience both inside stadiums and at home. Hisense is also featured on electronic billboards along the fields, or the pitch in soccer vernacular, at many matches. FIFA President Gianni Infantino has described Hisense as a global market leader and praised the company’s long-term work with world soccer, or futbol.
Mengniu entered a major partnership with FIFA ahead of the 2018 World Cup. China Mengniu Dairy Company Limited is China’s second-largest dairy manufacturer, a prominent Hang Seng Index blue-chip company, and one of the top dairy companies in the world. Mengniu is considered a national champion brand, and its largest strategic shareholder is COFCO Group, China’s largest state-owned food processing and trading conglomerate. Founded in 1999 and headquartered in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, Mengniu has evolved from a regional milk supplier into a major multinational corporation with a strong presence in China and Asia.
Its portfolio includes liquid milk, yogurt, probiotic drinks and premium dairy products, including Milk Deluxe, Just Yoghurt and Yoyi C. Mengniu extended its official tournament sponsorship agreement through the 2030 FIFA World Cup, making it one of FIFA’s longest-running corporate relationships connected to the tournament.
Beyond official sponsorships, China’s manufacturing power is also highly visible through World Cup merchandise. Yiwu, a city in Zhejiang Province famous as the “world’s wholesale market,” supplies a major share of global tournament merchandise, including jerseys, national flags, whistles, horns, plush mascots, scarves and fan accessories.
Yiwu operates a highly localized supply chain. Components needed to build merchandise, whether fabric for team jerseys, ink for printing flags, or plastic for cheering props, can often be sourced from nearby factories within a short distance. This helps reduce delays and allows rapid turnaround during fast-moving tournament demand.
Yiwu has also integrated artificial intelligence into parts of its design and sampling process. AI systems can help generate design proposals and digital samples faster, shortening production fulfillment times and helping merchants respond quickly to the changing needs of fans, teams and winning nations.
As the Modern-Day Marco Polo, having participated at many levels of the sport and having traveled in China while visiting some of the manufacturing and business worlds connected to global brands, I can say with great appreciation that sponsorship is not only important, but essential to events like the World Cup.
These Chinese sponsors and manufacturers are not simply placing names on signs. They are helping create the tournament experience, supporting technology, providing products, reaching fans, and competing for global attention on one of the greatest stages in the world.
The World Cup reminds us that soccer is more than a game. It is a meeting place of nations, cultures, businesses and people. While teams compete on the field, the larger story is also about connection, innovation and friendship. From the stadium lights to the broadcast screens, from fan jerseys to global brands, every part of the World Cup helps build bridges across borders.
For me, that is the real victory. The World Cup shows that when nations come together through sport, business and cultural exchange, we discover that the greatest goal is not always scored on the field. Sometimes the greatest goal is friendship, and that is the true treasure found along the Modern-Day Marco Polo journey.
