Yahoo! has won the exclusive rights to produce, market, and host the Web site for football's World Cup, in a deal that makes it one of 15 official worldwide partners of Fifa, the sport's governing body.

The deal includes the 2002 FIFA World Cup in Korea and Japan (May 31 - June 30) and the 2006 World Cup finals in Germany. Financial details of the deal, which includes an agreement by Fifa and Yahoo! to sell sponsorship on the co-branded site, were not disclosed.

A wide variety of free and paid-for services are promised for the site, which will be available in six languages: English, Spanish, Japanese, Korean, French and German.

Among these are live broadcast streaming of "events surrounding" the month-long World Cup, archived video highlights, real time statistics (available via wireless), auctions, fan communications tools (such as email and messaging) and, of course, merchandising.

More than 1.1 billion page views were registered on the www.France98.com, the official Web site of the last tournament. ®

External Links

2002 Fifa World Cup (currently under redevelopment)
Yahoo!'s statement of intent

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