Sony World Cup split - The multinational Japanese company is reportedly planning to end its $280 million sponsorship agreement with FIFA when their current contract expires at the end of the year.
An unidentified inside source told the press that the Sony World Cup split will alleviate the burden on the company's finances as it restructures its electronics division. Nonetheless, critics have underlined the fact that the Sony World Cup split comes at a time when the soccer world governing body has been tainted by accusations of bribery and corruption in the bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 tournaments.
The Sony World Cup split comes after the Japanese company and many other top sponsors of the global competition charged FIFA to conduct an 'appropriate' investigation into these accusations.
The investigation in question, which was conducted by US attorney Michael J. Garcia, has sparked more controversy than it intended to quell. Earlier in the month, FIFA judge Hans-Joachim Eckert released a 42-page summary of Garcia's 350-page report. While Eckert agreed that there were inappropriate conducts in the bidding process, he concludes that it does not completely compromise the decision to award the hosting rights of the tournaments to Russia and Qatar.
Garcia has since come out to condemn Eckert's summary of his report. According to him, the summary is incomplete and misrepresents his facts and conclusion. This has led to more pressure on FIFA to release the full report.
There have been accusations of corruption in FIFA for many years. Critics say the Sony World Cup split and similar moves by other sponsors may be the only way FIFA will be forced to become more transparent. With the exception of Hyundai, virtually all of FIFA's top 6 sponsors (Coca Cola, Adidas, Visa, Emirates and Sony) have reprimanded the global soccer association over these corruption allegations.
Prior to the impending Sony World Cup split, Emirates cut ties with FIFA saying the association did not meet its expectations.
A few days ago, Coca Cola also criticized FIFA's response to Garcia's report as disappointing. The company said it expected the issue to be "resolved quickly in a transparent and efficient manner."
The Sony World Cup split could be foreshadowing a massive pull-out of sponsors, which would definitely make FIFA more transparent, according to critics. In light of the news about the Sony World Cup split, FIFA has said that it is still in negotiations with the company.
