FIFA's director - marketing, brand and business intelligence, chatted with Manifest about markets such as India, revamping its youth tournaments in the global calendar to achieve wider football dialogue and elevate nations that don't have access to hosting the sport. 

While the full chat is available in the August issue of Manifest (get your copy here), in this sneak peek we reveal how FIFA is looking to compete with cricket, a sport that rakes in the advertising budgets of brands in the country.

"There is more than enough room to co-exist. If you look at the USA, it's one of the few countries where football (or soccer as it's called there), is not number one. But as we move towards 2026 (USA, Canada and Mexico will be hosting the World Cup), we are doing on a special journey to get it to that level, and we're not far off already. The same applies in India. We don't need to replace or compete with cricket. We can complement it and work together to grow new fans. Food and cricket can easily co-exist in a market like India, which has more than a billion people. The country could easily have two, three, four or five main sports."

Nazzari also added that there are several brands from India who have used FIFA as a platform to attract global audiences. 

"There is no better platform to showcase a brand internationally, than with the biggest football tournaments on the planet," he stated.