Sony drops World Cup sponsorship due to concerns of FIFA transparency (Report)

Sony has decided to drop its sponsorship of the FIFA World Cup, as controversy continues to surround the next two tournaments, which are set for Russia and Qatar.

The Japanese tech giant hasn’t officially announced its move, but The Wall Street Journal reports that it will not renew its contract as one of FIFA’s six “official partners.” Earlier this month, Emirates Airlines made the same decision.

FIFA just released its findings from an 18-month investigation into corruption claims, specifically looking at how Russia won the 2018 World Cup and how Qatar got the 2022 tournament. They discovered no wrongdoing in either case, but the results were widely criticized, especially since FIFA only released a short summary of its findings.

The BBC reports that the U.K.’s Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport Sajid Javid is calling on FIFA to release the full investigation. Javid said the summary “further calls into question their independence and transparency.”

Those concerns over transparency also lead to Emirates and Sony dropping their sponsorship of the World Cup. Business Insider notes that other sponsors - including Coke, Visa and Hyundai - also expressed disappointment in FIFA publicly.

WordPress › Error

There has been a critical error on your website.

Learn more about debugging in WordPress.