Speaker 1: It's the most popular sport in the world, two hundred
Speaker 1: and fifty million players in two hundred nations. Soccer is
Speaker 1: the sport of the people. At the top of the
Speaker 1: professional pyramid is FIFA, somewhat mysterious group of elite businessmen
Speaker 1: who promote the sport and organized the biggest international sports
Speaker 1: contest on Earth, the World Cup. Yeah, it's the pud
Speaker 1: It's ultimate game, like every four years. It's the ultimate
Speaker 1: celebration of the splendor and brilliance of the beautiful game.
Speaker 1: It will be some can can on the show Sunday
Speaker 1: say tonight's from all the champions over lall. This clash
Speaker 1: of nations generates four and a half billion dollars in
Speaker 1: revenue and attracts more than two billion eyeballs. That kind
Speaker 1: of influence can move international agendas. But behind the excitement
Speaker 1: and spectacle lurks an ugly truth and assorted history, as
Speaker 1: allegations of corruption within FIFA have now infiltrated every level
Speaker 1: of football's global governing body. In two thousand and fifteen,
Speaker 1: American authorities rated a five star hotel in Switzerland and
Speaker 1: arrested some of soccer's top executives. It was a corruption
Speaker 1: scandal that rocked the world. FIFA now a byeword for
Speaker 1: global corruption and introduced us to a cast of criminals
Speaker 1: and shady characters, the rival even the most dramatic floppers
Speaker 1: in the game. The list of crimes is long, including rocketeering,
Speaker 1: fraud and money laundry. Bribery and FIFA go together like peanut,
Speaker 1: butter and jelly. But FIFA's problems didn't start in two
Speaker 1: thousand and fifteen, and they're far from going away. The
Speaker 1: FIFA scandal rumbles all. This is the story of the
Speaker 1: largest corruption scandal in history in the world's most popular sport.
Speaker 1: The story of how a ruped a few turn the
Speaker 1: beautiful game into an international con job. And as soccer
Speaker 1: begins it's March towards this year's World Cup. In the
Speaker 1: tiny gas rich nation of Qatar, this multibillion dollar business
Speaker 1: continues to operate out of bounds. You'll hear all about
Speaker 1: it on our new podcast, The Lords of Soccer Al
Speaker 1: FIFA Stole the Beautiful Game. I'm Connor Powell. The twelve
Speaker 1: part series from My Heart Radio and Inside Voices, launches
Speaker 1: June sixteen. Listen to The Lords of Soccer on the
Speaker 1: i Heart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get
Speaker 1: your podcasts.