Hyundai steps up FIFA World Cup presence with Ioniq 9, robots and youth drive | OneFootball

Hyundai and Kia’s long-running FIFA partnership is front and centre at the 2026 World Cup across the United States, Mexico and Canada.

According to L'Équipe, pitchside LEDs carry Hyundai’s global mobility partner branding, featuring the all-electric Ioniq 9 SUV and the “Next Stars Now” message on green and white backdrops.

Hyundai Motor Company chief executive José Muñoz said the firm is mounting its most ambitious collaboration yet as it extends a 27-year alliance. Son Heung-min, now at Los Angeles FC, has been named a new ambassador with his national team already out.

The manufacturer is supplying more than 1,500 vehicles for teams, officials and media. It has run youth clinics in Atlanta, Miami, New York and Los Angeles with Mia Hamm and Tim Howard, plus a drawing contest that put winners’ designs on team buses and provided trips to a match.

At New York’s Rockefeller Center, FIFA’s Legacies of Champions exhibition showcases Hyundai-backed technology with Boston Dynamics robots Spot and Atlas. Spot patrols autonomously at the International Broadcast Centre in Dallas and at MetLife Stadium, and Atlas fronts the “Next Starts Now” campaign with demos and fan interactions.

Hyundai has been a FIFA partner since 1999. The current deal runs to the 2030 World Cup in Morocco, Spain and Portugal and is estimated at 100 to 150 million dollars per four-year cycle. Club tie-ups began with Lyon’s shirt in 2012, then Chelsea, Hertha Berlin, Roma, Eintracht Frankfurt and Atletico de Madrid, supporting a European market share averaging 4.2%.

Source: L'Équipe