Mastercard's Rugby World Cup deal

South Africa won the 2007 Rugby World Cup, held in France

Credit card company Mastercard has been appointed a main sponsor of the 2011 rugby union world cup, the tournament's organisers have announced.

Rugby World Cup chairman Bernard Lapasset said the deal would help the tournament boost its commercial base.

No details of how much the sponsorship package is worth have been released.

Mastercard vies with rival Visa as the world's largest credit card payment provider. The 2011 Rugby World Cup is being held in New Zealand.

"As a leading sponsor of global sporting and cultural events, Mastercard has shown itself to be imaginative and visionary when activating sponsorship," Mr Lapasset said.

Football loss

Mastercard had sponsored football's World Cup from 1990 to 2006, after which it was controversially replaced by Visa.

Fifa, football's world governing body was ultimately forced to pay Mastercard $90m (£60m) in compensation.

Last week, Mastercard reported a 21% fall in quarterly profits, due to a fall in global credit card usage as a result of the economic downturn.

Mastercard will be the preferred credit card and provide the official payment system for the tournament.

For the tournament there will be six worldwide sponsorship agreements, and Mastercard joins Emirates Airlines as the two announced so far.