Historical Development of the FIFA World Cup™ Licensing Programme

The licensing programme as we know it today formed its roots at the 1994 FIFA World Cup™ event. For the 1994 FIFA World Cup™, the programme attracted 200 US Licensees and 100 international Licensees. It reached an amount of US$ 550 million retail sales worldwide. The Licensing Programme for the 1998 FIFA World Cup™ was the largest ever for an international sports event at that time with over 300 Licensees being given licenses to produce more than 450 different products. The worldwide estimated retail sales of the 1998 FIFA World Cup™ licensed products totalled US$ 1.2 billion. The Licensing Programme for the 2002 FIFA World Cup exceeded the success of the 1998 FIFA World Cup with over 280 Licensees being given licenses to produce more than 500 different products. The worldwide retail sales of the 2002 FIFA World Cup™ Official Licensed products were approximately US$1.5 billion. Today, the event marks of the FIFA World Cup™ have become extremely valuable; the visible expression of the link between the supporters and the sport are an effective way of giving products added value. Just as the sport of football has developed into a worldwide passion, so its premier contest, the FIFA World Cup™ has become quite simply the biggest single-sport event in the world and therefore makes it the perfect platform for marketing licensed products.

Research has shown that applications of sports event symbols to packaging and products - or as a component of an advertising campaign - provide a significant marketing advantage: consumers are more than 50% more likely to buy the products. This is now widely recognized, with the result that the licensing of sport marks has become a significant aspect of the sports marketing business.

Licensing is very different to sponsorship, as a Licensee is not able to associate its corporate brand name with licensed products. Therefore, the value to a manufacturer becoming a Licensee is the increase in a product's attractiveness and perceived value to the consumer, which results from its associations with the marks.

The licensing and merchandise of sports properties has been transformed from a relatively small and fragmented sideline into a highly sophisticated billion dollar global industry. The opportunities are boundless since licensing today goes far beyond traditional novelty merchandising.