Book Review: Red Card: How the U.S. Blew the Whistle on the World's Biggest Sports Scandal

Meticulous Description of the Investigation That Blew the Lid Off Corruption in International Soccer

I read a lot of historical narratives because I enjoy learning about other times, places and events. While these books are always informative, occasionally, I will find one that is also a real page turner. Red Card: How the U.S. Blew the Whistle on the World’s Biggest Sports Scandal by Ken Bensinger is one of those books.

I do not follow international soccer on a regular basis. However, like many people, I do tend to pay attention during the World Cup, the quadrennial tournament that pits the best national teams against each other to determine the best team in the world. I never gave much thought to the administrative workings of the various soccer associations around the world. However, I certainly took notice of the day in 2015 when Swiss Police, pursuant to the request of the United States Department of Justice, raided a Zurich meeting and arrested numerous members of FIFA, international soccer’s governing body. Red Card is the extremely well written story of the investigation that led to charges of fraud, kickbacks, bribes and money laundering brought against those who were arrested on that day in Zurich.

Bensinger does a great job of introducing the characters, both the investigators and the criminals, explaining the crimes that led to the charges, and describing the meticulous steps in the investigation. Anyone who wants to understand the rot in international soccer that led to the greatest sports scandal in history would be well advised to read this book.

That does not mean, however, that this book is without its shortcomings. All of the characters seem to be a little one dimensional. Bensinger presents all of the investigators as dedicated public servants seeking to bring wrongdoers to justice. He presents the soccer officials as greedy administrators who take bribes because that is just the way that business is done in their industry. I would have liked to have seen a little more depth on the motivation of the soccer officials. What did they have to do to reach the top ranks of their respective associations where they were in a position to start receiving bribes? Were they aware that they would start receiving bribes once they reached the top ranks? Were any of them surprised when they started receiving bribes as part of the regular course of business? Did anyone ever refuse a bribe or express concern that they were so prevalent?

Notwithstanding the above described shortcomings Red Card is a very informative and entertaining book. I recommend it for everyone and I give it four stars.