RTÉ has announced Heineken 0.0 as the broadcast sponsor of its FIFA World Cup 2026 coverage, in a high-profile partnership brokered by Dentsu.
The sponsorship will see Heineken 0.0 branding appear across RTÉ’s live coverage of the tournament, including stings at the opening of all broadcasts on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player, as well as at the beginning and end of all advertising breaks.
The Heineken 0.0 logo will also feature across promotional material for the tournament, which is set to be the biggest FIFA World Cup in history.
The 2026 edition will be the 23rd staging of the tournament and the first to be hosted across three countries, with matches taking place in Canada, Mexico and the United States. It will also be the first World Cup to feature an expanded 48-team format, with 104 matches to be played from the opening game in Mexico on June 11 through to the Final.
RTÉ will deliver full live coverage of every match, free-to-air, across RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player, with its tournament offering also including pre- and post-match analysis throughout.
The partnership offers a major platform for Heineken 0.0 across one of the biggest sporting and social occasions of the summer, aligning the brand with the communal viewing experience that the World Cup creates.
“With an expanded team format and three host nations for the very first time, this edition of the World Cup is set to be bigger than ever before,” said Gavin Deans, Commercial Director at RTÉ.
“We’re delighted to have Heineken 0.0’s support in bringing all 104 World Cup matches to Irish audiences, live and free-to-air. As a huge Irish and global brand, they are a natural partner for our broadcast coverage of this historic tournament.”
Fiona Curtin, Marketing Director at Heineken, said the partnership reflected the role sport plays in bringing people together.
“We’re incredibly proud to partner with RTÉ for their coverage of the FIFA World Cup 2026,” she said.
“Sport has a unique way of bringing people together; it sparks conversation, creates connection and turns everyday moments into something shared. Through this partnership, Heineken 0.0 is proud to play a role in those moments, helping fans across Ireland come together and enjoy a refreshing shared experience, wherever they’re watching.”
Ian McGrath, Chief Growth Officer at Dentsu, added that the sponsorship delivered the kind of attention and reach brands seek around major live sport.
“This sponsorship is high visibility, high attention, high interest, all built around one of this summer’s big social occasions,” he said.
“It’s perfect for a quality beer like Heineken 0.0.”
The announcement adds another commercial layer to RTÉ’s World Cup plans, with the tournament likely to deliver some of the largest live sports audiences of the year across television and streaming.
For brands, the World Cup remains one of the few sporting properties capable of bringing together mass audiences across generations, and the 2026 expansion to 104 games will create an extended window of visibility across more than a month of live coverage. We will have further coverage of Irish brands activating across the tournament in advance of next week’s kick-off and as it progresses.
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