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The Graphic Truth: The World Cup of graft

The 11 most and least corrupt countries playing in the soccer World Cup arranged by ranking order on a pitch
Luisa Vieira
By Carlos Santamaria,
Carlos Santamaria

Carlos Santamaria is a former senior writer at GZERO.

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Luisa Vieira
Luisa Vieira
Luísa is a graphic designer at Eurasia Group and GZERO Media.
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November 20, 2022
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FIFA, the governing body of world soccer, has long been tainted with corruption scandals — and the 2022 edition of its top competition is no exception. The World Cup is being held in Qatar despite the fact that even FIFA itself "admitted" that bribes were exchanged before the tiny emirate with zero soccer tradition got the nod in late 2010. But what about the countries whose national teams qualified for the tournament? We take a look at how the most and least corrupt countries would play against each other as soccer teams on a pitch. Note: if you're missing Saudi Arabia, believe it or not it ranks as less graft-ridden than Croatia.

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