Tech giant Google has announced new partnerships with the national soccer teams of Morocco and Iraq ahead of the upcoming 2026 FIFA World Cup men’s flagship soccer tournament.
The agreements, signed with the Royal Moroccan Football Federation and the Iraqi Football Association, revolve around Google’s Gemini artificial intelligence brand, which will serve as the official technology sponsor of both teams during the tournament, which is being held across the US, Mexico, and Canada between June 11 and July 19.
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The partnerships will focus on fan engagement, with the federations using Gemini’s AI capabilities to create immersive content and launching a series of activations over the next three months.
Specifically, supporters will be able to use Gemini’s text-to-image model, Nano Banana, to create custom cheering visuals or compose team anthems using its text-to-music model, Lyria.
Fans will also be able to access Gemini to break down soccer rules, analyze match performance, and predict results.
The partnership comes as Google looks to expand its presence in the region, having launched its Personal Intelligence function last month across the Middle East.
Iraq will participate in its first FIFA World Cup in nearly 40 years, having clinched their place with a 2-1 victory over Bolivia to become the 48th and final team to qualify last month.
The team’s last tournament appearance was during the Mexico 1986 edition, and their qualification came amid conflict in the Middle East, which has had knock-on effects in Iraq.
Morocco, meanwhile, became the first African country to qualify for the tournament after a 5-0 win over Niger back in September 2025. During the previous 2022 edition, Morocco became the first African side to reach the semi-finals of the tournament.
Rights to the tournament across the MENA region are held by pay-TV broadcaster BeIN.
The deal, meanwhile, adds to Google’s growing portfolio of sports partnerships, which includes Gemini featuring on the training kits of Argentine national soccer teams.
This year has also seen Google strike a wide-ranging partnership with the International Cricket Council for this year’s 2026 Men’s T20 World Cup, centred around Gemini and the company’s Google Pixel smartphone, with Gemini also sponsoring cricket’s elite Indian Premier League competition.
