Play the Game Podcast

Ten years ago, Gianni Infantino was elected FIFA president with a promise of reform, transparency, accountability, and a “new FIFA”. At the time, world football was still shaking from one of the biggest corruption scandals in sports history. Senior FIFA officials had been arrested, investigators were uncovering bribery and money laundering schemes, and journalists and whistleblowers had exposed a...

In this episode of the Play the Game Podcast, Stanis Elsborg speaks with investigative journalist Karim Zidan about Donald Trump’s long and increasingly political relationship with sport. For decades, Trump has used boxing, professional wrestling, golf, mixed martial arts, and football to build his brand, cultivate power, and place himself at the centre of the spectacle. Since returning to the Whi...

This story is written by Monika Streule for Play the Game and narrated by Stanis Elsborg. In this episode, urban anthropologist Monika Streule takes us to Mexico City, Monterrey, and Guadalajara, where 2026 World Cup-related projects, infrastructure upgrades, and urban development are colliding with local struggles over water, land, housing, public space, and environmental protection. In Mexico Ci...

Jules Boykoff: Sportswashing, the FIFA 2026 World Cup, and the 2028 Olympic Games As the 2026 FIFA World Cup begins in North America, Jules Boykoff asks us to look beyond the spectacle. For millions of fans, the tournament will bring football, drama, beauty, and emotion. But behind the spectacle lies another story – one about power, money, political prestige, and who gets to use sport, and for wha...

This story is written by journalist Steve Menary for Play the Game and narrated by Stanis Elsborg. Is FIFA moving into the betting industry faster than it can protect the integrity of the game? Ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, football’s global governing body is deepening its relationship with betting operators, prediction markets, data companies, and streaming rights - and, on June 9, FIFA annou...

“Silence is sport’s worst enemy!” That is the message from Qatar 2022 whistleblower Abdullah Ibhais, the former media manager for Qatar’s World Cup organising committee, who paid a heavy price for speaking out about the treatment of migrant workers ahead of the 2022 FIFA World Cup. In the opening episode of the Play the Game Podcast, Stanis Elsborg speaks with Ibhais in an exclusive interview abou...

Welcome to the Play the Game Podcast Play the Game Podcast is a new podcast about the people, powers, and politics shaping sport. The podcast brings you voices, stories, and debates that rarely get enough space in the world of sport. For almost three decades, Play the Game has worked to create space for open, critical, and informed dialogue about international sport through conferences, analyses,...