{"id":324880,"date":"2025-12-04T13:27:10","date_gmt":"2025-12-04T13:27:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/324880\/"},"modified":"2025-12-04T13:27:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-04T13:27:10","slug":"fanatics-to-operate-retail-shops-for-fifa-world-cup-2026-soccer-tournament","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/324880\/","title":{"rendered":"Fanatics to Operate Retail Shops for FIFA World Cup 2026 Soccer Tournament"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tFanatics has scored a deal to be the official on-site <a href=\"https:\/\/wwd.com\/tag\/retail-2\/\" id=\"auto-tag_retail-2\" data-tag=\"retail-2\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">retail<\/a> licensee for the FIFA World Cup 2026.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tIts deal with <a href=\"https:\/\/wwd.com\/business-news\/business-features\/fifa-impact-apparel-sales-1203246701\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"1203246701\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">FIFA<\/a> means the sports platform will manage the in-venue <a href=\"https:\/\/wwd.com\/business-news\/financial\/inditex-q3-sales-growth-zara-logistics-expansion-1238369583\/\" id=\"related_article_link_retail-2\" data-tag=\"retail-2\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">retail<\/a> operations for 104 matches over 39 days in Canada, Mexico and the United States. The tournament starts on June 11 and run through July 19.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tThe upcoming event will mark the first time the tournament has spanned three countries simultaneously and will feature an expanded field of 48 competing nations with matches hosted in 16 cities. In addition to in-venue retail, <a href=\"https:\/\/wwd.com\/fashion-news\/fashion-scoops\/fanatics-takashi-murakami-jerseys-tokyo-mlb-1237044942\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"1237044942\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Fanatics<\/a> will also create retail experiences at official FIFA Fan Festival locations within the host cities.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\t\u201cWe\u2019re bringing together our expertise across event and physical retail operations, buying and merchandising, product creation, and rapid production to serve millions of fans in real time,\u201d said Andrew Low Ah Kee, chief executive officer of <a href=\"https:\/\/wwd.com\/business-news\/retail\/fanatics-commerce-andrew-low-ah-kee-ceo-doug-mack-1235801878\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"1235801878\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Fanatics Commerce.<\/a> \u201cThis is exactly the kind of challenge our team loves \u2014 supporting the world\u2019s fans\u00a0through the joy of sport.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tFanatics will work with a wide range of brands and official FIFA merchandise partners to offer fan gear for all nations participating in the tournament. It will also use its on-demand manufacturing capabilities and global supply chain \u2013 including local market operations in the U.S., Canada and Mexico \u2013 to produce products immediately that commemorate highlights during the tournament.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"c-lazy-image__img lrv-u-background-color-grey-lightest lrv-u-width-100p lrv-u-display-block lrv-u-height-auto\" src=\"https:\/\/wwd.com\/wp-content\/themes\/vip\/pmc-wwd-2021\/assets\/public\/lazyload-fallback.gif\" data-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/2026-FIFA-World-Cup-Outerstuff-Oversized-Fashion-T-Shirt-Natural.jpg\" alt=\"A FIFA World Cup 2026 T-shirt.\" data-lazy- data-lazy- height=\"1018\" width=\"1018\" decoding=\"async\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\tA FIFA World Cup 2026 T-shirt.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of Fanatics<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\t\u201cAs we approach the FIFA World Cup 2026, we\u2019re thrilled to partner with Fanatics to create many world-class retail experiences throughout the tournament,\u201d said Romy Gai, FIFA\u2019s chief business officer. \u201cThis is an incredibly complex undertaking, with 16 host cities across three countries, but Fanatics sets itself apart through an innovative merchandising approach and proven track record delivering standout results at the world\u2019s biggest events.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tThis partnership follows Fanatics\u2019 collaboration with FIFA during this year\u2019s inaugural Club World Cup, where the company operated on-site retail across 12 venues in 11 cities. The FIFA World Cup 2026, however, will mark the most expansive on-site retail operation that Fanatics has managed to date.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fanatics has scored a deal to be the official on-site retail licensee for the FIFA World Cup 2026.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":324881,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[49,48,6578,561,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-324880","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-soccer","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-retail","11":"tag-soccer","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324880","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=324880"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324880\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/324881"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=324880"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=324880"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=324880"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}