As FIFA's first post-global events loom, its partners prepare to drive off a cliff
Trump administration’s tariffs will create big challenges as the world becomes more complex and sensitive
With the FIFA World Club Cup looming and the men’s World Cup just over a year away, football’s global governing body finds itself caught in the crosshairs of global geopolitical instability.
FIFA president Gianni Infantino’s appearance at Donald Trump’s January inauguration prompted suggestions that world football’s leader had become a member of a new American oligarchy.
However, the more plausible explanation was always that Infantino was staying close to developments in Washington DC ahead of two showcase tournaments taking place in the US.
Whatever concerns Infantino might have had at the time, they have now been realised.
So too for the likes of FIFA partner Kia-Hyundai - the South Korean car manufacturer - which was previously targeted by Trump during his first term in office.
Such were the potential risks associated with a second Trump term that Kia-Hyundai massively increased its US political lobbying budget ahead of 2024’s presidential election.
South Korea now faces a Trump tariff of 25% and a US administration that remains hugely resistant to the growing presence of East Asian electric vehicles.
At the FIFA World Cup in 2022, a Kia-Hyundai endorser sang the tournament opening anthem; in 2026, a decision will need to be made by several non-US sponsors about how to activate their FIFA deals without falling foul of belligerent, nationalistic officials in DC.
When K-pop star Jung Kook took to the stage and sang in Qatar, it formed part of a South Korean drive to engage with global audiences.
Next time though, such an approach seems impossible to imagine.
This suggests a simple choice for sponsors, either to capitulate to or to antagonise the Trump administration.
Sponsorship activation could therefore become either a celebration of all things America or, if sponsors are not careful, a source of conflict.
Instead, perhaps the activation of deals may celebrate football and FIFA, rather than making overt references to their countries of origin.
Even so, there will still be significant numbers of Kia-Hyundai vehicles driving around the streets of US cities, ferrying players and officials around, it’s the kind of thing sponsorship activations typically involve.
How Trump and his acolytes might respond to seeing fleets of South Korean EVs on the streets of New York or Miami remains to be seen, their approach to politics and policy has long been characterised as chaotic and uncertain.
Which means that for Kia-Hyundai and other non-US FIFA sponsors, activating their deals will be akin to driving off a cliff without knowing how and where they will land.
Navigating complexity and sensitivity will be the name of their game, as it will also be for the likes of Adidas, Hisense and Qatar Airways.
What for football was supposed to be a safe bet hosting choice, the US now promises to be FIFA’s set of post-globalisation events.