Author(s): Heidi Blake; Jonathan Calvert

Sport

When the Tiny Desert State of Qatar won the rights to host the 2022 World Cup, the news was greeted with shock and disbelief. How had a nation with almost no soccer tradition or infrastructure, a high terror risk and searing summer temperatures of 122 degrees Fahrenheit beaten more established countries with stronger bids? And why was FIFA willing to sanction moving the tournament from its traditional time of the year, causing huge upheaval to the sporting calendar? Soon, allegations were flying that the tournament had been secured for Qatar by foul means. When Heidi Blake and Jonathan Calvert of Britain's The Sunday Times received a cache of hundreds of millions of documents from a whistleblower detailing phone calls, emails, bank transfers and much more, they were able to build up a devastating picture of what had happened. The FIFA Files became a global news sensation, unearthing massive corruption in the bidding process. Now, in The Ugly Game, Blake and Calvert are able to tell the full, astonishing story of what really went on and describe the plot by Qatar's most senior soccer official, Mohamed bin Hammam, to buy the World Cup. In compelling detail, they reveal the sickness at the heart of FIFA's affairs and raise a series of issues that helped bring down the- most powerful man in world soccer, the FIFA president, Sepp Blatter. It is a gripping and shocking account that anyone who cares about the game must read. The Insight Team has won a series of awards for their work on the FIFA Files, including the Paul Foot Award for campaigning and investigative journalism as well as Investigation of the Year and Sports Journalist of the Year at the British Journalism Awards. They were also presented with the London Press Club's prestigious Scoop of the Year and won News Team of the Year at the British Press Awards. Book jacket.