# Why are we talking about the World Cup again? Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/what-in-the-world-6570991/why-are-we-talking-about-the-world-cup-again Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/what-in-the-world-6570991/why-are-we-talking-about-the-world-cup-again.md Podcast: [What in the World](https://stenobird.com/podcast/what-in-the-world-6570991) Published: 2026-07-31T13:38:00+00:00 Episode link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3ct8q5w Audio file: http://open.live.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/6/redir/version/2.0/mediaset/audio-nondrm-download-rss/proto/http/vpid/p0p1yjyj.mp3 Processing state: not_requested JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/what-in-the-world-6570991/episodes/why-are-we-talking-about-the-world-cup-again Duration seconds: 739 ## Resource It’s less than two weeks after Spain won the men’s World Cup, but suddenly the tournament is back in the headlines. This time it’s because of a plan from Fifa’s President Gianni Infantino to sell a stake in their tournaments to private investors. Infantino says it’s a chance to “turbocharge” the development of the game - and national associations have been offered millions of dollars if they agree to the plans. It’s fair to say the plans haven’t gone down well with everyone - with European’s governing body Uefa saying their members won’t go to any World Cups (men’s or women’s) if the plans go through. We talk to BBC Sport’s Isaac Fanin (fresh from a month at the World Cup) about what the plans are, what the response has been and what might happen next. NB: We recorded this episode on Friday morning and it’s all changing so fast we have to keep rewriting this description… Instagram: @bbcwhatintheworld Email: whatintheworld@bbc.co.uk WhatsApp: +44 330 12 33 22 6 Presenter: Hannah Gelbart Producer: Emma-Louise Amanshia Editor: Verity Wilde ## Actions - request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/what-in-the-world-6570991/episodes/why-are-we-talking-about-the-world-cup-again/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode. - read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/what-in-the-world-6570991/why-are-we-talking-about-the-world-cup-again.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource. A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed. ## Transcript Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.