The Thailand-based brewer behind Singha (and Leo, the nation’s favourite) plans to sponsor two English teams this year “to boost its overseas sales and reputation

Budweiser has topped the list of World Cup online sponsorship brands, but rival beer brands witnessed a fall in searches, according to the latest data from Experian Hitwise.

The 2010 World Cup is as much a clash of logos, as it is the world’s best soccer players. Adidas and Nike are in a battle for consumer attention, and money.

Credit Agricole said on Monday it had cancelled its television campaign with the team, which on Sunday boycotted a training session in support of striker Nicolas Anelka who was sent home for foul-mouthing the national coach.

Companies pay millions upon millions of dollars to advertise their brands at major sports tournaments. This concept was shaken up recently when a story came to the fore that a Dutch Beer company allegedly engaged in ambush marketing.

South African Airways was the brand that benefited most its sponsorship of the Fifa Football World Cup last week. UK Internet searches for the South African Airways brand (one of the South African team’s official sponsors) increased by 129.2% between the week ending June 5th and the week ending June 12th.

According to reports in South Africa, 36 female Dutch fans were ejected from the Netherlands-Denmark World Cup 2010 match at Soccer City on Monday and questioned by FIFA regarding alleged ‘ambush marketing’.

Champions League winners Inter Milan has announced a new sponsorship strategy which will cut the number of team sponsors from 60 to 25.

The move, which comes after a similar move by fierce rivals AC Milan, was the brainchild of Italian sports marketing agency RCS Sport.

Yahoo Inc said it signed British soccer star David Beckham as a brand ambassador ahead of the World Cup tournament in a move to draw more users to the online media company’s products.

With the World Cup kick-off just about one week away, football fans are already going wild in anticipation. Today Visa has launched its VISA FIFA YouTube Channel to collectively harness this enthusiasm and create the longest “goool!” shout in history.