Global football governing body FIFA has chosen its betting data partner for this year’s World Cup, demonstrating the huge value of this product in 2026.
FIFA announced today that it has partnered with Stats Perform, one of the biggest sportstech and data firms and a long-time partner of various football leagues.
The partnership will cover the 2026 World Cup, to be held across the US, Canada and Mexico in June-July this year and the 2027 Women’s World Cup in Brazil.
Stats Perform will subsequently continue to function as FIFA’s global betting data partner for the 2028 Futsal World Cup, the 2029 Women’s Futsal World Cup, the 2026 and 2027 U-20 Women’s World Cups, the 2027 and 2029 FIFA U-20 World Cups, and the 2029 Intercontinental Cup.
Romy Gai, Chief Business Officer at FIFA, said: “We are delighted to partner with Stats Perform, a global leader in sports data. This innovative partnership will create great opportunities to deliver official products for the benefit of the game and its fans.”
FIFA wants in on betting growth
FIFA’s interest in the global sports betting industry has been peaking in recent years, likely driven by the exponential growth the sector has enjoyed over the past decade, with huge new markets opening up.
This includes two of the nations the 2026 World Cup will be hosted in – the US, with 40 states now offering some form of legal betting and gaming since PASPA’s repeal in 2018, and Canada, where Ontario has had a licensed market since 2022, and Alberta is in the process of opening up.
Mexico, the third 2026 host nation, is also home to a significant betting market with 2024 revenue coming in at $1.6bn. Outside the host nations, European markets remain steady despite new taxes, African ones continue to grow, and Latin America welcomed one of the world’s biggest new markets on 1 January 2025 in Brazil – also coincidentally one of the world’s biggest footballing nations.
FIFA’s interest in betting over the past few years has been quite obvious. The governing body signed its first-ever betting sponsor for the 2022 World Cup, for example, in Kaizen Gaming’s Betano, and signed the brand again for the 2025 Club World Cup.
Bookmakers expect the 2026 World Cup to be big business, as usual, with bet365 telling SBC News last month that it is seeing a lot of trading activity. FIFA wants to get in on this revenue, and securing a data partner to deliver stats straight to the operators is key to this.
Terms of the deal will see Stats Perform use its ‘RunningBall’ team to collect and distribute FIFA betting data to bookmakers for modelling, trading, settlement and in-play purposes, while its Opta team will cover player stats, live scores and match trackers.
“FIFA competitions represent the pinnacle of the world’s biggest game,” said Carl Mergele, Stats Perform CEO. “Our clients will be delighted we’re able to add FIFA competitions to our Opta and RunningBall official betting data portfolio, and our innovative, AI-enriched Bet LiveStreams service.
“We share FIFA’s vision to help the magic of the beautiful game be felt more deeply, by more fans, worldwide.”