Soccer’s quadrennial World Cup is the world’s most-watched sporting event, but there is another event held annually that packs a heftier long-term punch for 500 kids from around the world.

Since 2000, France’s Groupe Danone—the makers of such products as Evian, Naya and Volvic water along with Brown Cow, Stonyfield and Dannon yogurt, among other products—has sponsored 40 youth soccer teams from across the globe to come play in the Danone Nations Cup, essentially a World Cup for the 10- to 12-year-old set. Since 2003, the event has been supported by former French soccer great Zinedine Zidane, who gracelessly ended his career at the 2006 World Cup by getting kicked out of the game for headbutting an Italian player. 

After nine championships in France and two in South Africa, the Cup Final has been played in Spain and Poland in the last two years. Word has finally come this week that the world’s youth soccer elite will be heading to London’s Wembley Stadium for this year’s final on Sept. 7. The American team will be decided after the U.S. final to be held on May 27.Continue reading...

The world’s financial situation isn’t exactly peachy keen just yet, but the global population appears to be up for traveling. Both luxury and budget brand hotels are popping up across the world.

Starwood Hotels & Resorts, which came in at the top of its category in the recent 2013 Harris Poll EquiTrend, “expects to have enough cash in the next three years to add another global luxury brand bringing their total to ten.” 

Mitzi Gaskins, VP/global brand manager for JW Marriott, noted that the “luxury space is growing a lot” and is “anticipating 50 percent growth over the next four to five years with 79 JW hotels up and running by 2015.” Less than half of the 30 or more hotels that the brand has in the pipeline are in the United States. Gaskins told Fortune that the luxury markets that are growing fastest are “top tier destinations and gateway cities,” noting that the JW brand was opening soon in Cabo, Turks & Caicos, Macao and Hanoi, and had “just launched” in Venice.Continue reading...

In 2002, Nike agreed to fork over £303 million ($485 million) and give a share of retail sales to Manchester United so its iconic swoosh could grace the home kit, away kit and related apparel of the world's most popular soccer team. But their 13-year agreement comes to an end in 2015, and the word from the Daily Mail is that the two sides are in the midst of negotiating a new deal that could pay the Red Devils a massive £1 billion ($1.6 billion).

If signed, it’ll be the largest sponsorship deal in all of sports. Not too shabby for a team that Forbes ranked as the top of its annual ranking of the world’s 50 most valuable sports teams. Forbes valued ManU at $2.23 billion, $350 million more than the second team on the list, Real Madrid. 

Nike will have a six-month window to negotiate, the Mail reports. Sure to be mentioned in the talks is the fact that GM's Chevrolet division agreed this summer to shell out $559 million over seven years so Manchester United would sport Chevy's logo on the front of the shirt — the terms of which contributed to the ouster of GM's former CMO, Joel Ewanick.Continue reading...

To many, soccer makes the world go round and, if this is true, the country of Qatar is poised to take advantage of the situation. In 2022, Qatar will be the first Arab country to host the World Cup, the world’s most-watched sporting event, and it is building innovative, air-conditioned stadia that will be partially disassembled after the event and sent to less wealthy countries.

Meanwhile, the television-news network owned by Qatar, Al-Jazeera, is using soccer in a different way.

Reuters reports that Al-Jazeera, the most-watched channel in the Arab world, is “racing to launch a new French channel in early June in time for the European Football championships, offering a service for about 11 euros per month.” To get ready, the network has trademarked the channel’s name, beIN Sport, across the globe.Continue reading...

When the Olympics kick off this summer, sports fans across the globe will be gathering at their local pubs and watering holes to take in some synchronized swimming and canoe racing, among other things. Plus, there will be quite a few tourists wandering around London in search of a good stiff pint. 

With all that beer drinking expected to be taking place, Anheuser Busch InBev wants the world to know that it is ready for the expected uptick in consumption.

"We saw the impact of the last [soccer] World Cup in the U.K., which was outstanding, especially for Budweiser brands," said the company’s CFO, Felipe Dutra, Nasdaq reports. Bud sponsored the 2012 FIFA World Cup in South Africa and has since extended its sponsorship of the event to 2022.

To be clear, InBev doesn’t have any kind of official deal with the Olympics. Instead, Dutch rival Heineken NV “is a 'third-tier' sponsor for the Games, allowing it sell its beers and ciders including Bulmers, Foster's and Kronenbourg, at official sporting venues and hospitality events in the U.K.,” Nasdaq reports.

Still, InBev is expecting consumption of its products to go up and wants to be ready to provide parched souls with some thirst-quenchers. We'll drink to that.

Image VIA Shutterstock

It's estimated that more than 10,000 athletes from 200-plus nations will be competing in this summer’s Olympics in London, but there will be an even fiercer competition going on behind the scenes.

Ambush marketing, the art of getting your corporation’s name attached to an event without spending the kazillions involved in officially doing so, could be entering its heyday with the London Games — even though organizers and lawmakers have made all sorts of rules and regulations against such things happening in order to protect the companies that have already forked over big bucks (and powerful pounds) to be involved.Continue reading...

If there is one thing a soccer fan likes to have at the match, it’s a beer. And if there’s one thing that big-event organizers love to have, it's major corporate sponsorship.

The former is what led FIFA to inform the next two countries scheduled to hold the men’s World Cup to “drop restrictions on beer sales in stadiums,” according to the Los Angeles Times.

"Alcoholic drinks are part of the FIFA World Cup, so we're going to have them. Excuse me if I sound a bit arrogant but that's something we won't negotiate," FIFA General Secretary Jerome Valcke commented at a press conference in Brazil, the BBC reports.Continue reading...

The quadrennial FIFA men’s World Cup always has a huge international draw on television, but the numbers watching in India are growing. It is estimated that in the first two days of last year’s Cup, 20 million people watched in India, a 35% increase from 2006, according to the Times of India. Before the Cup ended, the paper notes, 287 people in India had watched the event.

Those kinds of numbers have some thinking that India “will become the largest football-consuming nation in the world,” the paper notes. Those kinds of numbers and that kind of interest, of course, have businesses looking to capitalize. The Times reports that “several English football clubs are entering into licensing arrangements with Indian partners to deliver a complete football lifestyle experience.”

Manchester United, the Premier League’s version of the New York Yankees with the most league titles (19) and a steady stream of big-name players, has been the most aggressive in India, partnering with Future Group-owned Indus League Clothing to create “exclusive ManU branded stores” that’ll carry everything from jerseys and refrigerator magnets to slippers for the more refined fans.Continue reading...