On December 2, 2010, all the influential FIFA leaders from around the world gathered in Zurich, Switzerland. Prince William of the United Kingdom was also present, as was former US President Bill Clinton as campaign leaders for their countries to host the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, respectively. For the first time in the history of the institution, two world championships will be held on the same day, with the British and Americans considered the favorites of the draw. As you know, they ended up in Russia and Qatar. “At that time, most of the members of the FIFA executive committee were quite old. With a double vote, they received twice as much money. For them, it was a payday,” says one of his interlocutors. “FIFA Revealed”. She herself was then the wife of a member, who, however, at a critical moment was on the wrong side of the deal …

What does all this have to do with football, you say? None and absolute is probably a twofold answer. His documentary series Netflix, released – not coincidentally – just before the start of the World Cup in Qatar, tells the story of corruption and dark influences. But basically it is a counterexample of how a global sports and thus cultural organization, the only one besides the UN with so many members, can turn into a criminal organization with a structure and methods reminiscent of the mafia or the Mexican drug cartels.

These dramas are not ours, we see and hear them in a documentary from US Attorney General officials who were the first to prosecute influential FIFA officials. The most important of these, of course, is Sepp Blatter, who, in his old age and rather unrepentant, we can see speaks enthusiastically of the “golden ages”. “FIFA is a way of life,” notes one of the documentary’s dozens of speakers elsewhere, referring to the closed club of people who control and profit from the fate of world football.

The scam also has cultural implications, as Blatter himself came to power after the departure of his predecessor, Joao Havelange, promising football to take off in Africa, the Caribbean and Asia. “The World Cup is coming to Africa,” said the Swiss strongman in the arms of Nelson Mandela. When it happened in 2010, he already had the votes of many federations in his pocket, blindly following leaders like the demonic Jack Warner of Trinidad and Tobago. The latter, along with other small islands, have the right to vote in FIFA elections exactly the same as England or Germany.

Of course, this is not a problem in itself, but it takes on a different dimension after the revelation that some executive committee officials from Africa were funded by $1.5 million each to vote for Qatar’s candidacy. It is even more outrageous that even after all these upheavals, FIFA continued to operate as usual, ignoring the paradoxes and difficulties of hosting the World Cup in this very place; “the money has already been divided,” as comedian John Oliver remarks. , in a delightful edition of his show “Last Week Tonight” for the World Cup in Qatar.