In December 2010, FIFA President Sepp Blatter, surrounded by celebrities and politicians from around the globe, announced that Russia and Qatar would host the next two World Cup tournaments. The news shook the world. The choice of two authoritarian regimes, with troubling human rights records and little if any soccer infrastructure, set off alarm bells. How could this happen? Among those asking the question, federal agents in the United States who decided to take a closer look at soccer’s governing body.

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