Digital payments giant Visa has expanded its wide-ranging partnership with soccer’s Asian Football Confederation (AFC) governing body to cover next year’s Women’s Asian Cup in Australia.
Visa will become the official global supporter of the national teams tournament, which will take place from March 1 to 26 across Australian cities Sydney, Perth, and the Gold Coast.
It marks the first time Visa has sponsored the event and will see pre-sale tickets made available exclusively to Visa cardholders from July 18, 10am AEST. General public sales will follow on July 25 at 10am AEST.
AFC General Secretary Datuk Seri Windsor John has said: “The AFC Women’s Asian Cup Australia 2026 aims to be the greatest ever edition in the tournament’s history, and we look forward to working in close collaboration with Visa to realize our shared ambitions for the growth and empowerment of the women’s game across Asia.”
The deal was brokered by Asia Football Group (AFG), the AFC’s exclusive commercial agency for the 2023-28 cycle.
The AFC announced its partnership with AFG in September 2023, days after terminating its contract with Football Marketing Asia (FMA), with AFG taking over the AFC’s commercial and media rights for the remaining years of FMA’s initial eight-year contract.
Alan Machet, group country manager for Visa Australia, New Zealand and South Pacific, said: “Over 11 million Australians tuned in to watch the Matildas face England in 2023, making it the most-watched TV program in over 20 years and we are confident that this passion will continue as we expand our commitment as the official global supporter for the AFC Women’s Asian Cup.”
This is the second time Visa has expanded its AFC partnership this year, becoming an official global supporter of the AFC’s top-tier club competition the AFC Champions League Elite, the secondary Champions League Two, the women’s AFC Women’s Champions League, and national team qualification matches for the World Cup 2026 in the AFC region.
The two-year partnership, signed in February, ran through the remainder of the 2024-25 campaign and continues through the upcoming 2025-26 season.
In terms of other recent AFC activity, meanwhile, early June saw the regional body expand its global deal with Midea, the Chinese home appliances brand.
Australia, which joined the AFC in 2006, last hosted the AFC Women’s Asian Cup that same year, and will now do so for the second time after its successful hosting of the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup. The country also staged the men’s Asian Cup on one occasion, in 2015.
