The fast-food chain joined the likes of Coca-Cola, Visa, Adidas and Emirates in expressing concern after FIFA endured its most tumultuous week in its history. Sepp Blatter, who was re-elected as FIFA president on Wednesday, has pledged to change the organisation’s controversial World Cup selection procedure amongst other reforms.
“We continue to encourage FIFA and its leadership to reform and strengthen the game of football around the world and expect that the current issues will be resolved in the best interest of the game,” stated McDonald’s. “We remain committed in our support of grass roots and international football globally and to a successful 2014 World Cup in Brazil."
Continental, a sponsor of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, released a statement to AdWeek to confirm it would “continue to support professional soccer in the future, but how we do this is yet to be decided”. Continental’s statement added: “Therefore, we cannot approve of anything that negatively affects the reputation of professional soccer, the World Cup 2014 or the characteristics of this sport.”
