News / Doubling Down

World Cup 2018 - Is Football Still The Beautiful Game?

Tuesday, 10 July 2018 8:27 PM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 10 July 2018 8:27 PM ]

This edition of the program is about FIFA World Cup 2018. The focus in on the extent the games are politicized and the amount of corruption rampant in it. 1. The first headline: Is Football Still The Beautiful Game? 2. The second headline: It was the Brazilian star Pele who once described football as the beautiful game. But football is not just great because of what happens on the field. It can bring people together in a way that politics cannot. 3. Summary In this episode of Doubling Down we focus on the health of the beautiful game. Analysts say three years after the corruption scandal that nearly destroyed FIFA, questions still hang over the way it manages the game. Critics say it is still too dominated by European interests, and by money and influence. 4. Supplementary Information On the field FIFA is under pressure to ensure that it clamps down hard on the kind of cheating that has plagued previous matches. And then there are questions of security. Will the hundreds of thousands of fans from diverse faiths and cultures be welcome or will they be at risk of xenophobia and violence. One black England footballer Danny Rose has even warned his family not to travel to see him play.

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