Home Entertainment Money, power, and scandals aplenty in Amazon’s FIFA corruption series El Presidente

Money, power, and scandals aplenty in Amazon’s FIFA corruption series El Presidente

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El Presidente is Amazon Prime Video’s based-on-a-true-story sports drama series, and if you’re thinking to yourself “wait a minute that sounds a bit familiar” you’re not wrong. The streamer released the Spanish-language series at the beginning of June this year, but are now re-releasing it with an English dub for those who hate reading on their TV.

Created by Armando Bo, one of the Best Writing Oscar-winning quartet for Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance), the series tells the tale of the little-known Sergio Jadue from his humble beginnings and his surprise election as President of the Football Federation of Chile, and ultimately, his role in the 2015 FIFA corruption scandal.

For those who don’t remember, in 2015 the FBI arrested a number of high-profile football executives across both North and South America on charges of bribery, racketeering, and money laundering relating to the awarding of media broadcasting rights, sponsorships, and even the selection process for hosting the FIFA World Cup. Many of the accused have since plead guilty, but the investigation is still on-going.

There’s also a local component to this scandal, as it’s been alleged that in 2008 the South African Football Association paid a $10 million bride to one of the accused in order to solicit his vote to award the 2010 FIFA World Cup to South Africa.

The official plot synopsis is as follows:

Sergio Jadue, a lowly director of a small-town soccer club in Chile, unexpectedly finds himself at the head of the Chilean soccer association. Drunk with power, he becomes the protégé of soccer godfather Julio Grondona, as well as the FBI’s key to undoing the largest corruption scheme in the world of soccer.

Let’s take a look:

If watching anime ever taught me anything it’s that unless you’re a complete monster you always choose subs over dubs, and nothing I hear in this trailer convinces me otherwise. That was not particularly compelling voice over work. Still, the new trailer has reminded me that this show exists, and that it looks like an entertaining look at one of the biggest corruption cases in sports, ever.

What do you think?

El Presidente’s eight-episode-long first, and presumably only, season is available on Amazon Prime Video right now. It stars Andrés Parra, Paulina Gaitán, Karla Souza, Luis Margani, and Alberto Ajaka.

Last Updated: November 9, 2020

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