Simon Cooper
speaker
334 appearances
5 recordings
4 series
first heard Jun 2026
last heard 10 Jul
Simon Cooper’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
Trend
recordings per month · last 12 monthsRecordings per month over the last 12 months — 5 in all, peaking in Jun 2026 with 4.
Appearances
We don't care.
He was sort of open to everyone.
He gives Mussolini the World Cup of 1934.
In World War II, he collaborates a bit too much with Vichy.
He gets in trouble for meeting German football officials just before France is invaded, et cetera.
So he was very much a guy who every regime is welcome, which has remained the FIFA principle.
Yeah, I mean, like you, I've been to Uruguay, and it struck me that, you know, the central part of the city is these 1920 skyscrapers.
It looks a bit like New York, but dilapidated.
So obviously there hadn't been kind of economic advance since then.
But when they get the World Cup, they get it because they're the one country that's willing to pay for the whole thing.
Very expensive.
The European teams, plus Rime, have to cross the ocean on a steamship paid by the Uruguayans.
The Uruguayans have to put up all the players.
The Uruguayans say, we'll build stadiums.
They're still building the stadiums when the World Cup kicks off.
I think one of them is only really completed sometime after the World Cup.
And so it's immensely costly.
And the principle of the World Cup has always remained the host pays.
Now, why was this so important?
There was no money in football then, so FIFA was a penniless organization.
Showing 141–160 of 334 · page 8 of 17
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