World Cup football match

By Harry Holmes harry.holmes@thegrocer.co.uk 

Publishing: 16 April 2022
Advertising deadline: 6 April 2022
Submissions deadline: 1 April 2022

What does a winter World Cup mean for other summer sporting events?

FIFA’s decision to hand the 2022 World Cup to Qatar means this traditional summer event will now be a winter wonder. There will be no sun-drenched beer gardens playing host to a nation’s hopes this year. Christmas lights and mince pies will be the backdrop instead.

So where does that leave other summer events without one of the world’s biggest sporting event hogging the limelight? Can the Women’s European Championship fill the hole in football’s summer calendar? Does it open the door to other food and drink brands usually priced out of summer sponsorship by football’a typical big guns? Will the likes of Carlsberg, Budweiser, and Coca Cola invest as heavily in summer marketing or hold off till the World Cup finally starts in November? And how will World Cup sponsorship need to adapt for its new winter setting?

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