Where this was said
Sepp Blatter's Rise: From Swiss Watch Executive to FIFA's Power Broker
At 15:45 · chapter starts 12:40
If Pelé embodied the grace and joy of the game, Sepp Blatter was his total opposite: a Swiss watch executive with a taste for the limelight who joined FIFA in 1975 and quietly grasped something that would make him indispensable. As Joshua Robinson explains, Blatter understood that FIFA wasn't selling football — it was selling pure entertainment, and the money was in television rights, not ticket sales. Over the 1980s, he carved FIFA's broadcasting empire into the most commercially maximised version of itself, parcelling rights to as much of the world as possible. By the time he left in the 2010s, FIFA was sitting on more than $1.5 billion in cash. He also understood FIFA's political structure with surgical precision: every country — regardless of size — gets one vote, so he built his power base in Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean by channelling development money to build pitches, stands, and training facilities in nations that had never had them. More than one federation director told Clegg and Robinson: 'We don't see Mr. Blatter as a politician. Mr. Blatter is a great humanitarian.'
Sepp Blatter began his FIFA career in 1975 as technical director, rising through Secretary General before becoming president in 1998.
The first World Cup in Uruguay had only 13 teams because Egypt literally missed the boat that was carrying the competing nations.
By the time Sepp Blatter left FIFA in the 2010s, the organization was sitting on more than $1.5 billion in cash reserves, up from very little when he joined.
Every country in FIFA gets one vote regardless of size — and Blatter built his power base by funneling development money to small nations in Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean. They didn't see him as a politician; they called him a great humanitarian.
FIFA's member base consists of 211 national associations, each with one vote — a democratic structure Blatter exploited to build his political power base.
