Gideon talks to Simon Kuper, FT columnist and author of World Cup Fever, about what distinguishes this World Cup from previous tournaments. What role has geopolitics played historically in the World Cup and is there any truth to some of the conspiracy theories surrounding this year's events? Clip: ITV Sport


Free links to read more on this topic:

Bellingham brace carries England past Norway into World Cup semi-final

World Cup shows US is ‘golden market’ for football, says Major League Soccer boss

How western Europe became a formidable football factory

Why are China and India so bad at football?

Inside the secretive Fifa committee that suspended the US red card


Subscribe to The Rachman Review wherever you get your podcasts - please listen, rate and subscribe.

Presented by Gideon Rachman. Produced by Fiona Symon. Sound design is by Breen Turner.

Follow Gideon on Bluesky or X @gideonrachman.bsky.social, @gideonrachman


Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Podden och tillhörande omslagsbild på den här sidan tillhör Financial Times. Innehållet i podden är skapat av Financial Times och inte av, eller tillsammans med, Poddtoppen.