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The World Cup Story, Part 2: Too Big To Fail

6/14/202636 min

As the World Cup begins, we bring you a two-part Sunday special charting how FIFA built the World Cup into a global phenomenon. In Part 2, WSJ sports journalists Jonathan Clegg and Joshua Robinson explore FIFA under its current president Gianni Infantino and how he has maximized revenue for FIFA by exploiting new markets for soccer in the Arab world and the U.S. at the expense of the sport’s longstanding fanbase. Ryan Knutson hosts. Further Listening: - The World Cup Story, Part 1: Soccer and Scandal Sign up for WSJ’s free Sports newsletter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Clips

Inventing the FIFA Peace Prize
Infantino's Unforgettable Press Conference
A Winter World Cup Shake-Up
Squeezed Between Putin and MBS
Dynamic Pricing Ticket Backlash

Transcript preview

First 90 seconds

  1. Speaker 00:00

    [crowd cheering] Whoa.

  2. Ryan Knutson· Host0:06

    In 2015, FIFA was in free fall. [upbeat music] FIFA's longtime president, Sepp Blatter, had just stepped down in disgrace. More than a dozen officials had been indicted. Some pleaded guilty. Others were convicted at trial. A few served prison time in the US. We tell that story in episode one, which came out last Sunday. So FIFA needed to move forward, and the nonprofit that oversees the world's most watched sporting event was looking for a new president. How do you run for FIFA president? What's the process like for choosing a president of FIFA?

  3. Jonathan Clegg· Guest0:50

    FIFA operates like any sort of democratic institution.

  4. Ryan Knutson· Host0:52

    Hmm.

  5. Jonathan Clegg· Guest0:52

    So it's one country, one vote, and whoever gets the most votes becomes president. And, um, I think there were five in the running to replace Blatter.

  6. Ryan Knutson· Host1:00

    The man who ended up winning the job was Gianni Infantino. He'd been in charge of UEFA, the European soccer body, and he promised big changes at FIFA. My colleagues Jonathan Clegg and Joshua Robinson told me the story.

  7. Jonathan Clegg· Guest1:17

    His platform was basically- Make FIFA great again. [laughs] Yeah, essentially, yes. It was, like, radical transparency.

  8. Ryan Knutson· Host1:23

    Change we can believe in.

  9. Joshua Robinson· Guest1:25

    Exactly, and he was gonna get FIFA back to its roots: loving football.

  10. Jonathan Clegg· Guest1:29

    This organization

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