How does a country where football is a minority sport end up hosting — and cashing in on — the biggest World Cup in history? What happens when FIFA stops behaving like a sporting federation and starts behaving like a multinational? And when the tournament generates $14 billion in a single World Cup, who's actually footing the bill?
Twelve global sponsors, three and a half million fans through the turnstiles, and a World Cup final so dull it needed penalties to save it — Peter and Afua follow the money to USA '94.
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[0:00] A World Cup arrives in a country that doesn't even like football
[3:56] João Havelange and the birth of FIFA's global sponsorship machine
[9:54] Nigeria and Saudi Arabia arrive to rewrite the football map
[19:24] The post-communist world gets its own flag on the pitch for the first time
[20:49] Hristo Stoichkov and Gheorghe Hagi become the stars of the tournament
[23:37] Andrés Escobar's own goal, and a tragedy nobody saw coming
[25:47] Brazil finally get the ending football's most-loved nation deserved
[27:00] Why an African team winning the World Cup would change everything
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Explore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas:
Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.com
Join Legacy+ for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more.
legacy.supportingcast.fm
Stay connected with Legacy:
Instagram: @originallegacypodcast
TikTok: @legacy_productions
Explore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.com
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