Play the Game Podcast
A podcast exploring the people, powers, and politics shaping international sport. It features investigative journalists, researchers, athletes, whistleblowers, and sports leaders discussing corruption, match-fixing, doping, human rights, geopolitics, gambling, sustainability, athlete welfare, and abuse. Episodes include interviews, narrated articles, conference presentations, and critical debates. The show repurposes material from Play the Game's conferences and website to bring important stories to a wider audience.
Episoder
FIFA’s latest crisis shows why sport needs independent oversight
FIFA’s latest crisis has once again raised a fundamental question for international sport:Who holds those in power to account when sport’s own systems fail?In this episode of the Play the Game Podcast, you can hear a narrated version of the opinion piece “FIFA’s latest crisis shows why sport needs independent oversight”, written by Stanis Elsborg, head of Play the Game, and Jens Sejer Andersen, fo
Lindsey Kennedy: Scams, slavery and surface-to-air missiles – Online sports betting in Southeast Asia
Online sports betting is often presented as entertainment – a fast-growing industry built around odds, apps, sponsorships, and fan engagement.But behind parts of that industry lies a much darker story.In this episode, you can hear investigative journalist Lindsey Kennedy expose how illegal online gambling networks in Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos, and the Philippines have developed into sprawling crimin
Stanis Elsborg on Infantino’s FIFA: Ten years of power, politics, and so-called ethics
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 s
Interview: Karim Zidan on how sport became part of Donald Trump’s MAGA machine
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 White
Across Mexico, World Cup 2026 projects are putting communities and ecosystems under pressure
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 City
Jules Boykoff: Sportswashing, the FIFA 2026 World Cup, and the 2028 Olympic Games
Jules Boykoff: Sportswashing, the FIFA 2026 World Cup, and the 2028 Olympic GamesAs 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 what
FIFAs betting expansion raises integrity fears ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup
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 announc
Qatar 2022 whistleblower: Abdullah Ibhais on prison, pressure, and media control
“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 about
Welcome to the Play the Game Podcast
Welcome to the Play the Game PodcastPlay 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, and
