Fin vs History

Snapshot · Fin vs History

Hanging Out The Blatter it | The History of The World Cup (Part 4/4)

Explore episode Jun 18, 2026

Where this was said

United Passions

At 52:20 · chapter starts 49:40

The payoff for the Chuck Blazer subplot arrives as Swiss plainclothes police, acting on FBI instructions, storm a Zurich hotel and arrest FIFA's top officials just two days before Blatter's presidential re-election vote. Blazer's hidden keychain recording device — brought to the 2012 London Olympics FIFA meetings — was the linchpin. A €2 million payment from Blatter to Platini, made nine years late and described as back-payment for consultancy, becomes the 'disloyal payment' that triggers both men's bans by the FIFA Ethics Committee (whose very existence prompts incredulity from both hosts). Blatter's original 8-year ban is eventually overturned by a Swiss court, and he is cleared again on appeal as recently as March 2025. The segment's comic centrepiece is United Passions — FIFA's $27 million corporate vanity film starring Tim Roth as a heroic FIFA pioneer, released in the middle of the corruption investigation, which earned $918 in its US opening weekend and holds 0% on Rotten Tomatoes.

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