A pitch-side look at Verizon’s plans for its first World Cup

With about nine months to go until the 2026 FIFA World Cup, Verizon is powering up its marketing with the help of some soccer star power.

For its first major event activation as an official FIFA sponsor, the telecom giant is providing exclusive experiences like pitch-side access to games for customers, which marks a continuation of a fan-first strategy that it rolled out last NFL season.

And to spread the word about those experiences and kick off the sponsorship, Verizon tapped none other than David Beckham for a campaign that debuted Monday.

“In sports marketing in general, there’s always assets and access,” Justin Toman, Verizon’s VP of partnerships, told Marketing Brew. “We’re trying to move beyond that to ownership and influence, and one way we can do that is having really, really unique assets.”

The access

Toman, who joined Verizon in June after 18 years at PepsiCo, said he’s betting the level of World Cup access Verizon is planning to provide some of its customers will help the brand stand out from other sponsors.

On Monday, the company announced that thousands of its customers will have the chance to win free tickets, with hundreds getting the chance to claim a “golden ticket” granting them access to watch the tournament pitch-side, where typically only coaches and players are allowed. The first drop for free tickets is set for Thursday via the Verizon app and rewards program, with the golden-ticket sweepstakes scheduled to start in November; more exclusive content like events and merch is set to come in the lead-up to the tournament.

As the official telecom services sponsor of the World Cup, Verizon will help to power stadiums and other operations surrounding the tournament, which is similar to the way it works with the NFL. Providing tech to major sports leagues and tournaments gives the brand “an endemic role in sports,” Toman said, and layering fan access on top of the operational elements of its sports partnerships helps keep Verizon “locally relevant” in the communities where it has retail locations.

“Powering that fan experience is really important,” he said. “Being able to talk about that on this stage with FIFA will be really great for our business.”

The assets

As part of the first phase of its World Cup campaign, Verizon tapped Beckham to star in a video promoting the ticket drops. The spot follows Beckham as he tries to find “the perfect spot” to watch the action, starting in the nosebleeds and moving down until he’s on the pitch.

Verizon went with Beckham for a number of reasons, despite the fact that the former footballer once shilled for Sprint in a spot that called out competitors including Verizon. For one, Beckham is “a global icon of soccer,” Toman said, and he’s also contributed to the growth of the game in the US, having played for the LA Galaxy in Major League Soccer from 2007 to 2012. (Beckham is now a co-owner of Inter Miami CF.)

Prior to inking a deal with FIFA, Verizon had also been involved with the development of soccer in the country, with sponsorships spanning New York City FC in MLS, the NWSL, and LaLiga North America.

In addition to Beckham, Verizon partnered with players including retired US men’s national team goalkeeper Tim Howard, sisters and US women’s national team stars Alyssa and Gisele Thompson, San Diego FC and Mexico national team forward Hirving Lozano, and retired Premier League striker Sergio Agüero—all of whom are “household names” among different segments of fans, Toman said.

Though the details of the activations aren’t all ironed out yet, he said, the athletes will be involved with different elements of the World Cup campaign next year, which could include content and live experiences.

The action

This week’s release of the Beckham video marked something of a starting point for Verizon in terms of activating the sponsorship, and the various ticket-drop dates throughout the next few months will serve as “drum beats” as the tournament gets closer, Toman said. Verizon is planning some additional World Cup–related events for next year, “and then we’ll really sprint to the finish as the matches begin in June,” he added.

While the strategy for the tournament itself is still in the works, the general plan is for Verizon to be “really visible” in the first half of 2026 during the lead-up time, according to Toman. Once the World Cup kicks off, ideally, most of the heavy lifting will be done, he said, leaving the fan experience to take center stage—or center field.

“I don’t know that we’ll have a massive on-the-ground presence,” Toman said. “We’re hoping that a large part of that legwork in terms of awareness and visibility will have been done upfront, so that we can actually focus on delivering customer experiences at the matches.”