A few days before the most important football event, information appears that reveals how Russia won the bid to host the 2018 World Cup, shaking up the high spheres of FIFA and causing important changes.

We must remember that England was sure that football would return to the country where it was born in 2018. The high officials in charge of the British bid to host the World Cup considered it fair that, half a century after the 1966 tournament, the country would organize it again, and they underestimated the bet of the one who finally won the votes: Russia, led by Vladimir Putin.

It all started when Christopher Steele, now famous for a controversial dossier about US President Donald Trump, received information: the Russian president was very interested in football and organizing the 2018 World Cup.

Steele, an expert on the Eurasian giant, knew the old tactics and tricks used since the Cold War times, so nothing could surprise him. The lack of preparation (both in infrastructure and in economy, or even in attractive figures at a global level) would not be a problem to boost their candidacy and try to impose it on the rest of the FIFA countries.

The British corporations who hired him, full of optimism and security, received a worrying report months later. According to journalist Ken Bensinger, Steele presented a report with evidence of the actions of Russian officials and oligarchs deploying suspicious strategies for their objective: the 2018 World Cup.

The document claims that the government signed gas contracts (one of the state's largest assets) with other countries in exchange for votes. Expensive gifts, a regrettable tradition in FIFA, were not lacking for the representatives, with valuable works of art.

This link not only initiated the relationship that led to the investigations about the magnate, but it is also the origin of the monumental investigation by the US agency against FIFA, when everyone saw it as untouchable. The case led to Blatter's resignation and the arrest of high-ranking officials of the organization.

Since then, the Russian government has been accused of interfering in elections in other countries, supporting cybercrimes in other nations, poisoning its enemies with nerve agents, invading Ukraine, and supporting a bloody dictatorship in Syria. Despite sanctions and rejection from the West, Putin won by overwhelming difference in elections lacking legitimacy and is getting ready to roll the ball with billions of eyes turned to the country, in a new opportunity to sell the desired image to the world. In this context, the 2018 World Cup will take place.