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NEW YORK (AP) - A contract dispute over whether MasterCard or Visa sponsors the next two World Cup soccer tournaments might be decided or at least influenced by an arbitration panel in Switzerland, a federal appeals panel indicated Wednesday.
The three-judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reserved ruling on the case after hearing oral arguments. But two of three judges said the arbitration panel in Zurich, Switzerland, might be entitled to decide some aspects of the dispute.
FIFA, soccer's governing body, filed a lawsuit with the arbitration panel asking it to consider the dispute after U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska ruled last December that MasterCard International Inc. can sponsor the next two World Cups in 2010 and 2014. Preska ruled FIFA did not honor its MasterCard agreements when it awarded the rights to Visa International Inc.
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