White Elephants

08/18/22 • 37 min

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FIFA’s appalling behavior in Chile and Argentina is ancient history...right? You’d think world soccer’s governing body would have learned its lessons and modernized by 2014, but you’d be wrong. In the soccer-mad nation of Brazil, FIFA was faced with a choice between profits and people, and FIFA did what it always does - it put profits first. Screw the consequences.

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Previous Episode

The World Cup of Shame, Part 2

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After spending millions of dollars they didn’t have to build World Cup infrastructure, and disappearing anyone opposed to their lavish plans, Argentina’s military junta turns its eyes on an even bigger prize – a World Cup victory on its home soil in 1978.

How far would General Videla and his henchmen go to win? And would FIFA ignore their blatant efforts to rig the World Cup?

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Next Episode

Equal Footing

Today’s episode is all about hope. The stunning success of the U.S. Women’s National Soccer team offered FIFA a roadmap to a better way of doing business, one that promised soaring profits while embracing the organization’s core mission: to spread soccer and fair play around the globe. Instead, FIFA relegated the women’s game to second-class status even after seeing record crowds. In choosing to stick with its old corrupt ways, FIFA lost the one thing it cares about most: money. But women’s soccer still offers the last, best hope for a better FIFA.

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Lords of Soccer - White Elephants

Transcript

Speaker 100:00:01.399

For the last few episodes, you've heard about FIFA's historical fondness for brutal authoritarians. Specifically, it's a Paulium behavior in Chile, South Africa, and Argentina in the nineteen sixties and seventies, So you might ask, has FIFA changed, Has it learned any lessons? Of course not, It's FIFA, and that brings us to today's episode, a more modern tale about FIFA's avarice. When faced with the choice between prophets and human rights ethi