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B

Yes, I asked for a review by FIFA that wasn't a foul, that wasn't even an infraction.

C

FIFA lubricates relationships with powerful entities and then benefits from them, and that helps keep its leadership in place. And that's the cycle it keeps repeating.

A

Ken Benzinger is a Pulitzer Prize winning reporter at the New York Times and the author of Red how the US Blew the Whistle on the World's Biggest Sports Scandal. He's here to break down FIFA's five biggest scandals.

D

I hope that we we can soon move to the next page. Bring back as well Russia in the football landscape.

A

Before the North American World cup, there was Moscow in 2018, so we learned

C

that Russia got the World cup through bribes that happened all the way back in 2010.

A

This tournament took years after Russia annexed Crimea and Ukraine and the world slapped severe sanctions on the country. But Infantino didn't just defend the decision to host there, he threw his full backing behind Vladimir Putin, famously calling it the best World cup ever.

C

FIFA just frankly has a pretty checkered history when it comes to being not particularly selective about being bedfellows with dictators and with questionable governments.

A

The payout in 2019, Putin personally awarded Infantino the Russian Order of Friendship at the Kremlin.

E

He.

A

Even with current international bans on Russian athletics, there are reports that Infantino has consistently worked behind the scenes to try and slip Russian youth teams back into the competition. In 1978, the World cup was held in Argentina under a military dictatorship. FIFA didn't blink then either.

C

And this is a time when Argentines were being disappeared off the streets, tortured, murdered, their children being stolen and people infamously being thrown out of airplanes into the ocean. And, and the World cup happened in the middle of that and they had again no problem.

A

In one of the most egregious acts of corruption, Qatar bribed its way into hosting the World cup in 2022 and even paid intelligence firms to bury the story. The U.S. department of justice investigated officials who took part in the bribes. President Trump's DOJ dropped the investigation later. Ahead of the games, there was global outrage over the extreme human rights and labor abuses. There were reports of hundreds of thousands of migrant workers who d while building the stadiums in extreme heat as high as 115 degrees. You have to understand that this tiny oil rich country had very little infrastructure. They were not ready to host the games to begin with. So the workers that they brought in from around the world experienced wage theft and even confiscation of passports. Infantino didn't just defend the host nation, he weaponized gaslighting in this bizarre speech.

D

Today I feel Qatari. Today I feel disabled. Today I feel a migrant worker because I know what it means to be discriminated, to be bullied as a foreigner in a foreign country.

A

So this trauma that he experienced that somehow connected him with the human rights abuses that were happening in Qatar, it's all based on his experience of being bullied as a child because he had red hair and freckles, that people were

C

very angry leading up to it. And then the game started and people forgotten.

A

Then came the boldest move yet.

C

Saudi Arabia wasn't eligible to host a World cup until 2034, but other countries were going to be eligible 2034 as well. And there was concern that, you know, Saudi Arabia didn't want to have to compete for it. Somehow FIFA came up with a unique and strange plan to clear all of them out of the bidding for 2034 and make it clear for Saudi Arabia, which is they allowed a bid that combined all of those countries.

A

They changed the design of the process to make it so that Saudi Arabia would win. That means cramming six countries across three continents and multiple time zones into 2034 for one purpose only. Clearing out every rival out of the way so that Saudi Arabia could win unopposed in 2034.

C

And you start to think, well, there's some sort of, there's likely some sort of tit for tat arrangement there where, you know, FIFA scratches Saudi Arabia's back, makes it sure of the field is clear, and they're going to get the 2034 World cup in exchange. Saudi Arabia maybe a Saudi Arabia state owned oil company sends a ton of money FIFA's way.

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Shortly after Saudi Arabia managed to lock in as the sole bidder, the state owned oil titan Aramco signed a massive Tier one sponsorship deal with none other than FIFA. So is corruption a bug in FIFA or has it become a feature of how the organization operates?

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I mean, it is FIFA works. Patronage is how it works.

A

During the 2026 FIFA World cup, for the first time in 60 years, a red card suspension was completely overturned. Not because of a standard referee appeal, but because President Trump picked up the phone and called the president a FIFA

B

that wasn't a foul. That wasn't even an infraction.

A

At first glance, Infantido's decision to reverse the red card decision after Trump called seems extraordinary. But from everything we've seen about how FIFA operates, it was actually inevitable.

C

Infantino has spent the last several years getting as close as possible to Donald Trump, but he's also been as close as possible to Qatar and to Saudi Arabia.

A

Infantino attended Trump's inauguration. He's visited the White House and Mar? A Lago multiple times. He met Trump in Qatar for a tour and gifted Trump with a trophy. And the first of its kind features FIFA Peace Prize.

C

By Trump talking it up and promoting the event, it'll encourage more people to go to it, and that'll lead to more money from FIFA.

A

FIFA is expecting upwards of 11 billion in total revenue for the World cup, which is by far the most it's ever made. So how does Trump benefit? Well, he gets to be at the center of the spectacle.

C

He loves the spectacle. He loves the big event. And I think he loves sort of these things, like, frankly, the flattery of getting a trophy in his. In his honor. And the Peace Prize deserved.

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So for Infantino, as long as he keeps making FIFA billions, he keeps his grip on power.

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No FIFA president has been voted out of office since 1974.

A

Even when Ken tried to ask Infantino a question, his security followed him through a conference and prevented him from getting close.

C

Everywhere I'd go, they'd follow me around. I finally asked one of them, why aren't you blocking anyone else? And they told me they'd been assigned to stop specifically me from talking to Infantino and that they would not leave my side until I left the event.

A

Wow. Security guards to stop you. Pretty intense.

C

Yeah.

A

What are you trying to hide?

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That's the question. I mean, they don't want scrutiny, and I just. And they don't think they need to be answerable to anyone.

A

That was another episode of the Tara Palmeri Show. For everyone who's new to the channel, please hit that subscribe button, like share, comment. Tell all of your friends about it. If you believe in fiercely independent accountability journalism, please go to the QR code on the screen or Tara Palmeri.com and sign up for my newsletter, the Red Letter. By becoming a paid subscriber, you can get my exclusive journalism straight to your inbox. No paywall. I have a new YouTube membership program. You can check it out here. And for those of you who decide to be members, who are both on the record and on background, those two tiers, they will get to watch the full interview with Ken Bensinger and unedited. And I would encourage you all to consider becoming subscribers. It's how you can support my journalism. As you know, there are no shadowy backers behind me. It's just me working for you. And that's how I can hold powerful people to account, because I don't work for any of them. I work for you. I want to thank my producer Dan Schiffmacher. He was the editor and producer on this. I want to thank Abby Baker, who also produced this, Adam Stewart, who did the graphics, and Dan Rosen and Nicole Staple, my managers. And thank you, all of you, for keeping me in business and working hard. See you again soon.

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