NEW YORK - Mastercard International filed a suit against FIFA in a New York court on Thursday, seeking to block a sponsorship deal between world soccer's governing body and credit card rival Visa.
In court papers Mastercard argued that an agreement for Visa to sponsor the 2010 and 2014 World Cups violated its contractual right of first refusal to continue to be the category-exclusive sponsor of those events.
"This action by FIFA is a blatant and deceitful violation of our right of first refusal," said Mastercard lawyer Noah Hanft.
Mastercard was an exclusive sponsor of the last World Cup in Japan and South Korea and retained that role for the upcoming tournament in Germany.
"Among the key terms we bargained for in the 2002-2006 FIFA World Cup sponsorship negotiation was the right to obtain future FIFA World Cup sponsorship opportunities," Hanft said.
"And a critical aspect of any sponsorship -- particularly one as significant as FIFA World Cup -- is continuity and the building of equity over time," he added.
The lawsuit seeks an injunction to prevent the deal with Visa moving forward.
04/20/2006 17:03 GMT