Taittinger named as official World Cup Champagne

Champagne Taittinger has been announced as the official Fifa Champagne in an agreement which runs until December 2015.

Jérome Valcke, General Secretary of FIFA (left) and Pierre-Emmanuel Taittinger (right)

The new agreement means that the Champagne will be served to guests in Fifa’s VIP and VVIP areas during the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

In a statement Champagne Taittinger said: “Champagne Taittinger will manifest its presence at the 2014 FIFA World Cup in the months to come through various initiatives with the help of its 150 distributors around the world.”

The Champagne house added: “It is also about the strong emotion of a family whose history was closely bound to the glorious period of the Football club of Reims and who has never ceased to build up partnerships with various European clubs.”

The announcement comes amid violent protests in Brazil as people demand that public money is spent on the country’s infrastructure, on hospitals, schools and public transport rather than on large sporting events.

Fifa’s Confederations Cup has just finished in Brazil, which will also host the 2016 Olympics as well as next year’s World Cup.

Some news reports claim that football’s governing body, Fifa, is expecting a record income from broadcasting and sponsorship of next year’s World Cup, and Fifa president Sepp Blatter said recently that around US$100 million may be given back to Brazil for development projects after the World Cup.