FIFA hosts the World Cup every four years and about seven or eight years before a tournament begins. There is a jockeying for hosting this because there is nothing bigger in the world, perhaps say the Olympic Games than the football World Cup. At FIFA, it's our responsibility to develop the game for future generations and to protect its integrity. But that also means never forgetting the principles on which we were founded.
Soccer is sometimes called “the second religion of the Arab World,” and Qatar is the region’s first country to host the World Cup. But FIFA’s pick of the desert nation comes with boundless controversy.
This episode was produced by Haleema Shah, edited by Amina Al-Sadi, fact-checked by Laura Bullard, engineered by Efim Shapiro, and hosted by Noel King.
Transcript at vox.com/todayexplained
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