I guess it was only a matter of time before Hollywood decided to make a movie based on all the FIFA scandals that happened during the past month. Warner Bros. have purchased the rights to Ken Bensinger’s upcoming book Houses of Deceit and have appointed Ben Affleck and Matt Damon as producers with Warrior’s Gavin O’Connor set to direct the movie based on Chuck Blazer, the former FIFA and CONCACAF executive turned FBI whistleblower,  according to The Hollywood Reporter.

After going back and forth with other entertainment companies, Warner Bros. purchased the rights to Bensinger’s upcoming book, which is seen as the “definitive account” of Blazer’s role within the largest scandal in sports history and how the corrupt executive turned inside source for the United States’ case against FIFA and CONCACAF.

Bensinger is a Pulitzer Prize Award winning journalist who worked at the Los Angeles Times before leaving for BuzzFeed and published a memorable article within the soccer community entitled Mr. Ten Percent: The Man Who Built – And Bilked – American Soccer.

The article is being turned into a book, the rights to which were won by publisher Simon & Schuster, with a deal being finalized just last week. It is not uncommon for a Hollywood studio to purchase the rights to a book that has not been published yet and due to recent attention surrounding FIFA, Warner Bros. likely wanted to move quickly to cement the rights.

 

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Affleck received praise and multiple awards for his political thriller Argo, which he wrote, starred in and directed himself so FIFA haters and soccer fans should feel safe with Affleck behind the wheel of this film. He has proven to be more than a pretty face when it comes to his work in Hollywood over the last few years and is a talented screenplay writer as well as actor.

Blazer played a large role in the Department of Justice’s investigation into FIFA. Several organizations, including the Swiss police, have been working to bring down the organization for the last few years. The investigation came to a head in May when several members of FIFA were arrested during a meeting in Switzerland and a 168-page indictment detailing the charges being brought against the Swiss organization was released following the executive’s arrests.

There are no release dates for Bensinger’s book, so we are likely a long time away from the movie adaptation but Hollywood is going to want to move quickly while Americans are paying attention. With Sepp Blatter set to step-down as FIFA president after the next FIFA Congress, there’s going to be more drama ahead.