By Robbie Butler
During the winter I was stuck for reading material. I went on Amazon and found "The Power and the Glory: A New History of the World Cup" by Jonathan Wilson. An accidental find that was brilliant to read. The book was named "Winner of the Sports Book of the Year Award 2026".
With Mexico vs South Africa at the Estadio Azteca today kicking-off World Cup 2026, it's going to be wall-to-wall football for the next five weeks. Reading this was the perfect set-up for understanding the politics and economics of the game today.
Anyone that thinks the 2026 tournament is somehow different to what went previously should read The Power and the Glory. Every World Cup since 1930 has nearly been more of a political economy than a football. The bidding processes, the television deals, the sponsorship.
Wilson's argument, which he builds up methodically across the book, is that the corruption and the sportswashing we associate with recent tournaments isn't new at all. It's basically been there from the start, just dressed differently each time.
This tournament starting today consists of 48 teams and 104 games, spread across three countries. The scale of it is hard to get your head around. The travel is enormous as we have published on here. From an economics point of view it's a fascinating case study in whether FIFA has traded competitive quality for market reach, and whether the host cities will actually see the returns they were promised. The former is probably "yes" and the latter most certainly "no".
Wilson explores how governments have used the tournament to project legitimacy, like Mussolini's Italy in 1934, and the Argentine junta in 1978, and plenty of others. He argues that the last traditional World Cup was in Mexico 1970. Sponsorship and broadcasting has taken over since.
The book is also filled with great stories and Pelé, Cruyff and even the Republic of Ireland international team showing up to play Italy in New York in 1994 with the wrong coloured jerseys! The team then waited hours in the airport trying to catch a flight back to basecamp which had been delayed. Roy Keane experienced this as a young player.
Saipan in 2002 seemed all the more understandable...
During the winter I was stuck for reading material. I went on Amazon and found "The Power and the Glory: A New History of the World Cup" by Jonathan Wilson. An accidental find that was brilliant to read. The book was named "Winner of the Sports Book of the Year Award 2026".
With Mexico vs South Africa at the Estadio Azteca today kicking-off World Cup 2026, it's going to be wall-to-wall football for the next five weeks. Reading this was the perfect set-up for understanding the politics and economics of the game today.
Anyone that thinks the 2026 tournament is somehow different to what went previously should read The Power and the Glory. Every World Cup since 1930 has nearly been more of a political economy than a football. The bidding processes, the television deals, the sponsorship.
Wilson's argument, which he builds up methodically across the book, is that the corruption and the sportswashing we associate with recent tournaments isn't new at all. It's basically been there from the start, just dressed differently each time.
This tournament starting today consists of 48 teams and 104 games, spread across three countries. The scale of it is hard to get your head around. The travel is enormous as we have published on here. From an economics point of view it's a fascinating case study in whether FIFA has traded competitive quality for market reach, and whether the host cities will actually see the returns they were promised. The former is probably "yes" and the latter most certainly "no".
Wilson explores how governments have used the tournament to project legitimacy, like Mussolini's Italy in 1934, and the Argentine junta in 1978, and plenty of others. He argues that the last traditional World Cup was in Mexico 1970. Sponsorship and broadcasting has taken over since.
The book is also filled with great stories and Pelé, Cruyff and even the Republic of Ireland international team showing up to play Italy in New York in 1994 with the wrong coloured jerseys! The team then waited hours in the airport trying to catch a flight back to basecamp which had been delayed. Roy Keane experienced this as a young player.
Saipan in 2002 seemed all the more understandable...
RSS Feed
