How Qatar Took the World Cup

The New Yorker Radio Hour

WNYC Studios and The New Yorker

News, David, Books, Arts, Storytelling, Wnyc, New, Remnick, News Commentary, Yorker, Politics

4.2 • 5.5K Ratings

🗓️ 18 November 2022

⏱️ 22 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

No self-respecting sports fan is naïve about the role that money plays in pro sports. But, by any standard, the greed and cynicism behind the World Cup are extraordinary. The cloud of scandal surrounding FIFA, the international soccer organization, has led to indictments and arrests on charges of wire fraud, racketeering, and money laundering around the globe. Headlines have been filled with reports of the deaths of workers who constructed the facilities. “People are normally careful enough not to leave a paper trail,” the contributor Heidi Blake notes. But she says, of investigating FIFA, “I’ve never seen graft and corruption documented in this kind of detail.” Blake speaks with David Remnick about “The Ugly Game,” which she co-authored with Jonathan Calvert, and how Qatar came to host the World Cup.

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is The New Yorker Radio Hour, a co-production of WNWC Studios and The New Yorker.
0:10.2	Welcome to The New Yorker Radio Hour, I'm David Remnik.
0:12.8	Well, America for at least one fleeting moment, democracy is safe, or at least safer than
0:19.2	it was before the midterm elections.
0:21.9	And so maybe we all deserve a little break, a diversion.
0:25.4	No, I'm not a particularly knowledgeable fan of the beautiful game, the NBA is more my thing.
0:31.3	But every four years I get deep into the world cup.
0:35.2	A global phenomenon that this year will be played out in the tiny Middle Eastern nation
0:40.4	of Qatar.
0:43.0	And in my city, New York, anticipation is running hot.
0:46.0	Who are you rooting for?
0:50.0	Ecuador, of course, where the ones that play first.
0:52.0	Yeah, I think it's the Senegal, yeah.
0:53.6	Argentina, but I see.
0:55.0	I'm the Irana England, Wales of the World Cup.
0:58.0	USA very.
1:00.1	Best team win the World Cup.
1:01.2	I like football because of the energy.
1:03.8	Who was born on soccer, like you need a piece of land, a ball, and that's it, a bunch
1:08.2	of guys, that's all you need.
1:09.8	I've been waiting my whole life for us to get that.
1:12.2	It hasn't happened since 1958, so it's been 64 years.
	...

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