Modern football – that is, a spectacle you feel a nagging shame from participating in, because like so many other things it seems less about joy and more about money with every passing day – began in 1974. The global sport’s governing body, Fifa, had previously been a parochial little outfit, a handful of men in suits happily organising World Cups that were simply football tournaments. But, under a new president, João Havelange, funds for the global expansion of the game were promised and, with no cash in Fifa’s account, sponsorship deals were signed.
Football just as sport for its own sake? That option no longer existed. Now it was brought to you in association with Coca-Cola and Adidas. Fifa Uncovered (Netflix), a four-part documentary, starts its story with the Havelange overhaul and peaks with the FBI making multiple arrests for corruption and racketeering a few decades later.
