McDonald’s is ending its FIFA World Cup sponsorship after 32 years amid an overhaul to its marketing model.
The split with FIFA follows McDonald’s biggest-ever World Cup campaign this summer, which the company said at the time was its largest marketing push of 2026. Created by Wieden+Kennedy New York, the campaign spanned more than 110 countries.
However, in its Q2 2026 earnings call, McDonald’s chief financial officer Ian Borden said that while the World Cup campaign “provided a lift to the business and generated excellent system excitement, [it] underperformed versus our expectations.” The company’s growth slowed in the U.S.
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