The Colonialist

07/14/22 • 34 min

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An organization like FIFA does not become corrupt overnight. So how did it happen? Well, long before FIFA became stuff of criminal lore, soccer’s governing body was simply known to be racist and morally corrupt. From supporting South Africa’s racist apartheid regime to propping up authoritarian dictators, FIFA’s so-called Golden Years were more blood red than gold. At the top of the pyramid for much of this, an Englishman named Stanley Rous.

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The Fall of Sepp

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The most powerful man in world sports. The king of international soccer. FIFA President Sepp Blatter commanded the attention of global superstars and political leaders alike during his 17-year reign. He had also survived every scandal that came his way - and there were a lot of them. He seemed to be made of teflon and then, in a blink of an eye, his luck ran out.

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The Era of Gold

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The slow march toward corruption continues... When Brazilian businessman João Havelange took control of FIFA in 1974 it was still a modest operation, with six permanent staff and virtually nothing in the bank. By the time he retired in 1998, the soccer organization had $4 billion in the bank. But the man who built FIFA into a multi-billion dollar marketing machine would also be implicated in a string of scandals involving millions in bribes and kickbacks. Worse, Havelange had a nasty habit of cozying up to gangsters and dictators, and choosing profit over human rights.

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Lords of Soccer - The Colonialist

Transcript

Speaker 100:00:03.200

Before FIFA was corrupt, it was merely racist, built in the image of its colonial architects. FIFA's view of the world reflected the privileged white status of its founding members, and maybe because of this the corruption was inevitable. Maybe it wasn't the results of a few bad apples in the barrel, but a bad barrel itself. It's a question that might be best answered by looking at FIFA's six President, Sir Stanley Rouse, a man with many laudable