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The World Cup finals are upon us, but as the last match draws closer, let's allow Stuff They Don't Want You To Know to fill us in on the dark secrets of the competition's manager, FIFA.
While known globally as the governing body of football (soccer in the U.S.), FIFA is also known for bribery, fraud, and money laundering. Hosts Matt and Ben call it a perfect money-making machine that capitalizes on the world's most popular sport.
"The world's most important (football) games are a lot more than some talented athletes kicking a ball around," said Ben. "That's also why FIFA is not going to go away. It's just going to get bigger and bigger."
In 2015, several FIFA officials were indicted by the United States Department of Justice on charges of racketeering, wire fraud, and money laundering. The investigation revealed that they accepted millions of dollars in bribes in exchange for their support of certain countries' bids to host the World Cup. In fact, according to Matt and Ben, buying your way to host football's biggest event has been happening for decades, and it doesn't stop there.
Because FIFA is the sole holder of the World Cup and is separate from any sovereign government, it gets to make the rules. Like the Olympics, the host country must pay to build new stadiums and infrastructure for the event. For the FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar, the host country spent an estimated $300 billion on new stadiums alone.
But Qatar will make that money back in ticket sales and broadcasting rights, right? Not so fast. FIFA owns the broadcasting rights to the World Cup and charges everyone, including the host country, to market the event. Meanwhile ticket sales are owned by a subsidiary company of FIFA.
So, a host country has to (allegedly) bribe FIFA to host the World Cup, spend money to build the stadiums needed, pay to market the event, pay to broadcast the event, and doesn't even get to keep the ticket sales for soccer's biggest competition.
"The big winner at the center of every World Cup is FIFA," said Ben. "That's how the system is built."
So, what's the point? Well, recently it has become a very expensive way for countries to show off. They get non-stop press coverage during the World Cup, and the host country's team automatically qualifies for the competition. While critics have spent years calling for changes, this seems to be the way things are in the world of football.
Listen to "FIFA Is So Cartoonishly Corrupt" on the iHeartRadio app to hear the full conversation about the organization. Stuff They Don't Want You To Know releases episodes regularly, breaking down the world's darkest conspiracies, from UFOs to psychic powers.
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