How dairy can seize its World Cup moment

Record-breaking branding and marketing revenue has been generated by FIFA, football’s governing body, ahead of this year’s World Cup.

The event is set to bring in a projected $13bn in revenue in the four years leading up to the tournament – of which $3bn has come from marketing and $1.8bn from global sponsorship. In comparison, the Super Bowl generates between $800m and $1bn in TV and in-game branding revenue per year.

There’s a lot to play for. The tournament has unrivalled global reach – the 2022 event brought in 175 million viewers on average, with more than a billion people tuning in for the final alone. Across the tournament, around five billion people were engaged across broadcast, digital, social media and other viewing platforms.

Brands such as Coca-Cola have become synonymous with the World Cup through decades-long partnerships – but who hasn’t been on the sponsorship list for decades is even more revealing.

Where’s dairy?

Dairy hasn’t been a fixture at the FIFA World Cup in the same vein beverage and snacking companies have been. You’d have to look as far back as 1998, when Danone was an official global sponsor. The French multi-national – which at the time still owned HP and Jacobs Bakery – benefitted from stadium advertising and leveraged an international advertising campaign that included distributing Panini stickers on its yogurts.

Since then, there hadn’t been any direct sponsorship-level involvement in the World Cup from dairy majors – until the 2010s, when Chinese major Mengniu signed on as an official sponsor for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, extending its partnership later to support the 2023 Womens’ World Cup.

“World Cup sponsorship is essentially a visibility and awareness medium as FIFA strictly controls how companies and brands can use the governing body’s assets,” said professor Simon Chadwick, an academic with more than 25 years’ experience working across global sport. “Often, food and beverage deals enable sponsors to secure exclusive rights within venues hence no rival brand’s products can be sold inside stadiums.

“As for dairy, there are interesting ways dairy could potentially benefit from such arrangements – but one doesn’t sense that the sector is being particularly assertive in this regard.”

But why haven’t dairy brands been World Cup sponsors more regularly?

Partly, it’s down to economics. Mengniu is a huge regional player that’s also directly backed by the Chinese government – but its influence doesn’t equal commercial might to rival established beverage majors with long-term FIFA affiliations.

The comparison is stark: Mengniu’s annual revenue is around a quarter of Coca-Cola’s and less than 13% of PepsiCo’s. Even dairy’s richest and largest firm – French multinational Lactalis – lags behind Big Soda brands in revenue terms, having made around $36.6bn in 2025.

Financially, it’s clear to see why Big Soda can afford star power for its commercial activations: including legends of the game, such as Messi and Ronaldinho.

But more broadly, dairy could be missing a trick at a more basic branding and marketing level.

“Historically, dairy has largely been anonymous in the sponsorship of FIFA’s World Cup, whereas soft drinks, fast food and alcohol have been ubiquitous perhaps even symbiotic in their relationship with global football’s biggest tournament,” said Chadwick.

“This began to change a little when Mengniu Dairy signed on with FIFA as a World Cup partner; though given the corporation’s target markets – in East Asia – many football fans and other consumers remain unaware of who the company is and what it does.

“Even in territories such as China, there isn’t a great deal of World Cup sponsorship activation associated with the deal.”

The opportunity this time around is arguably much greater than four or eight years ago – dairy consumption is experiencing a resurgence, accelerated by protein and wellness trends that put satiety and gut health support front of mind for millions of consumers.

“Dairy products have a huge opportunity in front of them – ranging from protein benefits to gut health – which would be in keeping with trends in football that increasingly see fans, clubs, national associations and governing bodies thinking more carefully about the positive societal contribution they make,” Chadwick said.

But are dairy brands using football sponsorship to refresh or modernise their image?

“In simple terms, they aren’t,” said Chadwick. “Compared to sponsors from other food and beverage categories, dairy brands’ presence in sport is so low-key that they are almost anonymous.

“There’s a real opportunity for one of them to move assertively, boldly and strategically to put themselves centre stage as a major sponsor of sport.”

Dairy’s uneven presence in sports marketing

Some dairy brands are strategically aligning themselves with sports over the years.

In the UK, Müller has an ongoing partnership with England and Arsenal player Declan Rice – building a commercial campaign on a pun on his surname.

In the US, brands such as Chobani and fairlife have increasingly backed grassroots sports to reach younger consumers: with fairlife also partnering with Olympian Katie Ledecky ahead of the 2024 Games.

So the industry is building momentum – but it’s far from ready to step into the limelight that Big Soda has basked in for decades.

And there’s a real opening to position dairy – particularly in-demand convenience formats such as RTD beverages and snack-sized pots and pouches – as functional, on-the-go nutrition options that resonate with sports fans.

And while official sponsorship is no longer up for grabs at the World Cup, ramping up digital advertising could be key to unlocking growth and building brand equity during the tournament.

In 2022, there was a 621% spike in social media engagement, and around 2.6 billion people streamed the matches digitally – close to catching up TV viewers, at 2.8 billion.

With the 2026 tournament being hosted in the Americas, a significant share of the global audience will once again engage outside of live broadcasts.

Across markets such as East Asia (China, Japan, Korea), Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand, and even Europe and Africa, many fans will likely consume the tournament through highlights, clips and branded content on digital platforms.

That’s where dairy can still compete for attention – and where brands have an opportunity to use cultural relevance and functional nutrition to elevate their image.

But overall, visibility, long-term partnerships and strong activation remain critical to winning on football’s biggest stage.

And brands may need to start by tackling a difficult question: do consumers consistently link dairy (and its nutritional and functional benefits, including protein) with elite sport today?

“Personally, I don’t think too many fans are making a direct connection between dairy and elite sport,” Chadwick said. “The connections more readily made are with alcohol and fast food.

“The dairy industry has to up its game.”