"The World Cup might have started in Europe, but it never would have been a global event without Pele, who is widely regarded as one of the greatest players in soccer history. He had just led Brazil to a victory in the 1970 World Cup, when he was tapped by João Hovalonche, a Brazilian-born son of a Belgian arms dealer, to lobby 86 countries for the presidency of FIFA back in 1974. Pele was the secret sauce to convincing the third world to join FIFA. He was well-decorated, gifted, black. It was Pele who accompanied Hovalonche's expansion of the World Cup from 16 to 32 teams. And it's why Adidas and Coca-Cola came on as the first corporate sponsors of FIFA. It's why in 1987, Hovalonche was able to sell the marketing rights to the next three World Cups. The European rights sold for $440 million. In 1998, the non-U.S. rights sold for $2.2 billion. But while FIFA and Hovalonche showered in the money, they tried to leave Pele behind. In 1993, Pele's TV company competed for the domestic rights to the World Cup. And he was denied. Pissed him off. Pele accused Hovalonche and his son-in-law of corruption. That's when everything starts to escalate. Hovalonche banned Pele from the 1994 World Cup in Vegas. Tensions start to rise. Not just between them, but between FIFA and the third world that Pele brought in. Then in 1997, Pele drafts legislation in Brazil called the Pele Law. Soccer clubs now had two years to become companies, giving players greater freedom to contract with teams and weakening the power of the Brazilian Football Confederation. A clear blow to Hovalonche's power within Brazil and a signal of what could happen globally. Hovalonche then threatened to ban the entire Brazilian team from the 1998 World Cup. Political pressure grows and he resigns as president the same year. Then after a long investigation, it was made public in 2012 that Hovalonche and his son-in-law took 41 million Swiss francs in bribes connected to the World Cup's marketing rights. With nobody's shock, Pele banned total world and FIFA let him off with a slap on the wrist. Because FIFA would have never been what it is without Hovalonche. But it also would have never been a global sport outside of Europe and South America without Pele."