This documentary, hosted by Andrew Jenninngs, an investigative journalist, takes a closer look at some of the very serious allegations against FIFA, the world’s governing body of association football.
Three members of FIFA’s executive committee, Nicolas Leoz, Issa Hayatou and Ricardo Teixeira were alleged to have taken bribes by International Sports and Leisure, a marketing partner of FIFA, for broadcasting rights, while a fourth official was facing ticket touting allegations. Sepp Blatter, the President of FIFA apparently did not investigate the matter properly.
There were also claims about scams involved in the bidding process for hosting the FIFA World Cups in 2018 and 2022. Russia won the right to host the FIFA World Cup in 2018, while Qatar won it for the 2022 tournament; but because the documentary was broadcast just 3 days before the bidding, many people believed that England lost its chance because of it and the documentary includes thoughts and opinions of several prominent industry people after the results were declared.
There was a huge outcry after this fiasco and BBC received a lot of backlash from angry viewers alleging BBC to be unpatriotic and inaccurate. Hayatou, the vice-president of FIFA, denied all accusations of involvement in the scheme and asserted that money was in fact paid to the Confederation of African Football (CAF). He even threatened to sue the BBC for the making of the documentary.
