Press publish issued: 22 September 2026
More than 93,000 apparent appearances of brands promoting unhealthy food and drink, alcohol, gambling and speculative products were recorded during safety of the largest FIFA World Cup in history, new investigation has found. Unhealthy food and beverage brands accounted for additional than seven in ten, alongside 65,722 appearances.
The research, led by the University of Bristol in collaboration alongside the University of Oxford, is the archetypal to analyze harmful commodity branding throughout an complete FIFA World Cup. The squad used the UK’s most mighty supercomputer, Isambard-AI, based at University of Bristol, to analyze all 172.6 hours of live perform throughout the tournament’s 104 matches.
The measure of possible visibility was extraordinary. FIFA reported that nearly six milliard group about the earth busy alongside the tournament, during broadcast records were damaged in additional than 30 countries. For the UK, the researchers estimated that harmful merchandise promotion generated 267 milliard impressions throughout the 53 broadcasts for which spectators data were available.
The inspection counted promotion built into the equivalent footage (e.g. on the hoardings), fairly than commercials shown during promotion breaks. Harmful merchandise branding appeared in all equivalent and was apparent during 39.3 hours of live play, nearly a fourth of all live play. Viewers could not evade this promotion without additionally missing several of the football.
Unhealthy food and beverage brands were established to dominate the tournament's sponsorship, representing additional than seven in ten (70.4%) of all branding detected. This was followed by prediction markets alongside 9,360 appearances, liquor alongside 9,266, gambling alongside 6,429 and cryptocurrency alongside 2,632.
Exposure was heavily concentrated among a fistful of globally recognised brands. A acquainted gentle beverage brand accounted for the highest figure of logos (21,893), followed by a important fast-food sequence (13,915), a sports beverage brand (12,777), and a famous crisps brand (12,087). Together, these four brands were liable for 65% of all harmful commodity logos recorded during the tournament.
Dr Raffaello Rossi, Senior Lecturer in Marketing and Co-Director of the Bristol Hub for Gambling Harms Research at the University of Bristol, and co-author of the study, said: "As among the world’s most watched sporting events, reaching billions of people, this year’s FIFA World Cup provided an unparalleled phase for advertising. Our findings disclose the sheer measure of branding embedded throughout tournament broadcasts, making visibility to unhealthy food, liquor and gambling brands the two omnipresent and unavoidable for viewers.
“This is particularly concerning stated the significant build of evidence linking promotion for unhealthy products, liquor and gambling alongside risen use and a range of health, social and financial harms, particularly among children and young people.”
Dr Elisa Becker, Researcher, Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, University of Oxford, co-author of this study added: “We are facing a earth emergency of younker obesity and diet-related disease, yet the world’s biggest sporting event is soaked alongside promotion for unhealthy food and drinks. Sport have to be part of the resolution to mediocre health – not among the world’s most mighty promotion platforms for the products driving it.”
A key matter highlighted by the investigation is that FIFA’s equivalent footage, which featured the identical embedded promotion about the pitch, was shared alongside broadcasters about the world, including in countries anywhere alcohol, gambling or prediction markets promotion may be restricted or illegal.
Despite existing virtual commission replacement innovation which enables distinct promotion to be shown in distinct countries, findings from this study propose FIFA’s business example unsuccessful to adequately document for national laws and traditional norms governing the promotion of harmful commodities. FIFA did not use this technology, and distributed World Cup footage containing embedded branding to countries anywhere the use, advertisement, or acquisition of several promoted products is not legal.
Dr Rossi added: “FIFA’s promotion deals appeared to display small regard for national laws and licensing regimes. The tournament featured about 16,000 gambling and prediction markets logos, alongside this promotion reaching a presenter of countries anywhere the promoted brands were unlicensed, or anywhere their lawful position was uncertain. Indeed, among the most advertised gambling brands listed licences in about 20 countries, during the World Cup was broadcast throughout additional than 220 territories. Put plainly, audiences in the overwhelming bulk of countries were shown promotion for a gambling controller that was not licensed locally.
“What makes this particularly disappointing is that the issue was avoidable. Technology earlier used by the UEFA EURO 2024, already allows distinct countries to see distinct pitchside advertising, yet it was not used to eliminate or substitute branding anywhere products could not lawfully be advertised or offered.”
The researchers call for governments and regulators to justify that promotion rules use to business branding embedded inside live sports broadcasts, backed by meaningful penalties. They additionally encourage FIFA to clasp an independently developed community involvement norm for business partnerships and use existing innovation to eliminate or substitute branding anywhere products cannot lawfully be advertised or offered.
Dr Rossi said: “Collectively, our findings emphasize how a tournament celebrated for bringing group together is, at the identical time, acting as a mighty phase for promoting products connected alongside several of the world's foremost causes of preventable sickness and harm.”
Beth Bradshaw, Policy and Advocacy Lead, Obesity Health Alliance, added: “Sport has enormous power to positively power children’s health, yet this latest investigation highlights a important loophole in efforts to defend children from unhealthy food marketing.
“Commercial brands use the enthusiasm and excitement of athletics to market products, and young fans are paying the price. The Government should act on the Health and Social Care Select Committee’s advice to broaden promotion restrictions to athletics and another emerging forms of marketing. If we're grave concerning raising the healthiest generation of children, unhealthy food brands should no longer be centre phase in the sports they love.”
Alex Ballinger MP, Co-Chair of the Gambling Reform APPG, said: “This investigation reveals the measure and pervasive existence of gambling-related promotion at the 2026 World Cup: logos and branding for gambling platforms, prediction markets, and cryptocurrency firms appeared complete 18,000 times in FIFA’s broadcast footage of the tournament.
“It is particularly concerning that children were exposed to these promotions. Such regular, repeated visibility encourages young fans to affiliate their heroes and the athletics they affection alongside gambling, during laundering the depiction of addictive, harmful products.
“As this study makes clear, our current rules and safeguards are inadequate. Urgent improvement is needed to defend young and susceptible fans and maintain the beautiful game.”
US Congressman, Paul Tonko commented: "Sports gambling has rotate into embedded in all aspect of sports, alongside all instant of a equivalent marketed as an chance to bet. This endless barrage is particularly concerning for young fans, as studies verify that visibility to gambling first in existence is immediately connected to issue gambling later. This is quickly becoming the community health emergency of our generation. It’s apparent that Congress needs to stage in to provision minimum person safeguards for online sports gambling – whether done through prediction markets or traditional sportsbooks – by passing law akin my SAFE Bet Act. I’ll keep pushing to continue this law that gets sports out of the hands of the gambling industry and rear anywhere they belong; alongside fans and families."
The study is the latest in a sequence of groundbreaking studies conducted by members of the University’s Bristol Hub for Gambling Harms Research, whose activity has influenced community policy, strengthened person protection, and shaped additional inclusive care services for those affected by gambling harms. The study was funded by the University of Bristol.
Report
‘The cost of the beautiful game: how the biggest FIFA World Cup always became a earth phase for promoting harmful products’ by Saeid Moradipour, Elisa Becker, Ru Jia, Jamie Wheaton, Philip Newall, and Raffaello Rossi
Further information
Further data concerning this research
Results from this investigation were generated using an AI device imagination example developed by the investigation squad on Bristol’s Isambard-AI, the UK’s most mighty AI supercomputer. Isambard-AI powered the inspection of 172.6 hours of live equivalent footage from all 104 games played between 11 June and 19 July 2026.
Built and managed by the Bristol Centre for Supercomputing (BriCS), Isambard-AI now supports complete 4000 users throughout 1000 projects in the UK.
The example was trained to detect sponsorship and branding embedded inside FIFA's centrally controlled earth broadcast feed, fairly than promotions inserted by idiosyncratic broadcasters.
For all logo the device example identified, the example recorded which brand it belonged to, the equivalent and second at which it appeared, how lengthy it remained visible, and how many copies of that brand were on display at the identical time. The example additionally counted all apparent depiction of an included brand, whether it appeared as a brand logo, standalone sign or written brand name.
Researchers resolute which brands were classified as harmful according to their chief products, alongside food and beverage brands assessed against WHO nutrition standards and included if their center products were unhealthy, during alcohol, gambling, cryptocurrency and prediction markets brands were automatically classified as harmful since the risks connected alongside those products are already fine established.
About BriCS
The Bristol Centre for Supercomputing (BriCS), part of the University of Bristol, is a foremost UK presenter for advanced high-performance computing and AI infrastructure. BriCS built and operates Isambard-AI, the UK's most mighty AI supercomputer and a cornerstone of the authorities funded AI Research Resource (AIRR). It powers breakthroughs in areas specified as medication discovery, climate research, and robotics throughout academia and the personal field throughout 4000 users and 1000 projects.
BriCS additionally built and oversee Isambard 3, among the UK's most mighty CPU-based systems. Combining profound HPC ability alongside rapid, standardized deployment capability, BriCS positions Bristol and the UK as an global hub for AI-driven specialized discovery.
About Isambard-AI
Isambard-AI is the 4th greenest supercomputer in the earth and the 13th most powerful. It is the fastest university-based supercomputer established anyplace in the world.
Access is liberated to UK researchers and SMEs; applications are made via the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade.
Isambard-AI was built alongside £225m UK authorities backing and launched in 2025 by afterward SoS for DSIT, Peter Kyle.
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