Original subtitles

Maradona... Maradona...

Maradona! CROWD ROARS

Onside! It's Messi!

Lionel Messi! CROWD ROARS

Cuts inside. Pele.

That's a lovely pass!

Carlos Alberto! Oh, my word!

CROWD ROARS

ITALIAN COMMENTARY

Goal! CROWD ROAR

Time has passed

at 2026 Oversight headquarters in Miami.

Director of Integrity Ian Fletcher

has been here for nearly three months,

in which time a lot has happened.

And with the opening ceremony now suddenly

just eight weeks away, there's a lot to think about.

Ah, morning, Will. Oh, yeah, hey, yeah, morning.

That's great. Thank you. Yeah, no worries. Yeah, cool.

Anything you need to tell me about today?

Yeah, I dunno. Like what? Well, no, I'm asking you.

Oh, cool, yeah. No worries, yeah, cool.

Oh, yeah. So there's this guy trying to get hold of you.

Howard Koch. Oh, right. Yes, him.

Yeah. I don't know who he is. No. Well,

as far as I can work out, he's basically a headhunter.

OK. Whoa. No, I mean, I think

he's working on the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles, isn't he?

Yes. So he keeps phoning.

Right. He's called again twice already this morning.

OK, I think you need to be a bit firmer with him.

Yeah. OK, so next time he calls,

say that you've spoken to me, we've discussed it,

and, I'm sorry, but this really isn't the right time -

I've got enough on my plate with 2026 as it is -

so I'm sorry, but I'm not going to be speaking to him

at this time. OK. OK?

Yeah. These people are tough.

You've just got to be tough with them.

Yeah, cool, yeah, tough. Yeah.

No worries. Yeah, cool.

OK, so we are very lucky to have Vincente with us today.

Truly, yes. After all, we know how busy he is.

Absolutamente.

Right. But he has done us the courtesy

of stopping off in Miami on his way back to Mexico City.

Actually, it is an honour for us.

Gracias.

And coming in today, just to take us through

his very incredible vision for the opening ceremony,

which I think you're gonna find... What can I say?

It's... It's quite something. Exactly so.

Gracias, Ryan. Gracias a todos. Gracias.

This morning, as the opening ceremony takes shape,

the executive team are meeting its Creative Director,

Vincente Guajardo,

the renowned Mexican film director,

who has been working in close approximation

with 2026 Lead Events Producer Ryan Hertz.

So, first of all, I want to say to you,

um, this is a great honour

for me to be creating this show

on the world stage in Mexico City,

now, in this moment. Truly.

And what I ask you now, please,

take everything you know about opening ceremonies,

closing ceremonies, this kind of thing.

Take everything you know, everything you have seen and...

...throw it away. Forget it.

Yes? It is gone.

Well, so... Huh.

Exciting. OK. Good.

MEXICAN HIP-HOP

Regarded by many as a visionary,

especially by those who haven't worked with him,

Guajardo broke through on the world stage

when his film Entanglement picked up the Oscar

for Best Film Not In Any Language in 2021.

His opening ceremony is to be a unique live collision

between creative forces chosen from literally all over Mexico.

When you make a piece of art, you are in control, yes?

You are in control and you are not in control.

It is a chemical reaction.

Then you bring these people together and you say to them,

"You are free.

"Now, tell me who you are.

"Tell me who I am.

"Tell me what we are doing here.

"Tell me what this is."

And then, in the end, we know.

We find out. Yes?

Truly.

I believe it is a kind of miracle.

Right. OK. So, well, I think, first of all,

just to say thank you, Vincente.

Oh, my God. I mean, that's really...

Well, it's amazing to hear about.

Right. Gracias.

I told you, right? Yes.

This is a great story we're telling here.

Yes. Well, uh, and so just... You know, in layman's terms,

when it comes to telling our story,

er, in terms of what's emerged

from this amazing collaboration,

I mean, what has emerged in the end?

Excuse me? You know, just so we're all clear at this stage.

Absolutely. OK, so you are not listening, yes? Well...

This is the point of what we are doing here.

This is the point.

When we arrive at our destination,

then we know where we are.

Right. We know it finally,

all of us, for the first time, in this moment.

And this is what we share with the world.

It is not before or after.

No. It is unique.

In this moment... we are alive.

It is not like anything else.

Yes. Yeah. Like I said, right?

OK, fine. The guy's a fucking genius. Terrific.

But apart from anything else, there's zero reference

to the US. Right.

Yes. Zero!

In the opening ceremony? Right.

Or Canada, actually. Well, no.

Now that I think of it. Of course. Yes.

I mean, what is this, The Mask Of fucking Zorro?

Excuse me? Ah, yes.

The what? For fuck's sake!

Meanwhile, the senior executive team

have repaired to the meeting room

to unpack Vincente Guajardo's plans for the opening ceremony.

Yeah. So, I mean, Ryan... Sure.

I'm sure I saw an early draft of what was going to happen

in the opening ceremony

at some point. Right.

OK. Yeah.

Absolutely. OK, so this was the opening ceremony beat sheet.

Yes. I have it here. Right. Well, Sarah, for instance... Sure.

I seem to remember a whole sustainability strand

running through it. Absolutely. Thank you, Ian.

No. Of course.

So we've been working with teachers and schoolchildren

from disadvantaged inner city areas

across all 16 host cities to raise awareness.

Great. Using stories they generated,

they came up with the beautiful story of Chichamitta.

Right. Chichamitta?

Right. So Chichamitta is a figure

representing the Chichimecas people.

OK.

The people who founded Mexico City

in the pre-Hispanic period, back before everything...

OK. Exactly. Yeah. Right. So anyway...

Yeah. So he's not doing that. What?

It's not happening. He's not doing it?

So, that document you got there, the beat sheet,

one of the first things he did was he took that document

and he shredded it. Right, OK.

No, no, no. He literally printed out

a hard copy and shredded it in front of the team. Right.

One of the first things that happened.

Vincente, what are you doing?

Yeah. So, if a key step in dealing with a problem

is to recognise you've got one in the first place,

I think we can say that we've achieved that.

Exactly so. Then perhaps we can say tick. Yes?

OK. So actually we've not even started

with the problem here, actually.

Right. Can I say, I can't tell you

how great it is to be able to talk about this stuff?

Yes. Well... For me, this is so great.

Good. So I guess I was waiting

for the right moment to drop this.

Um, so the White House has asked to see plans

for the opening ceremony. Right. OK.

Great. The White House?

Right. OK. No, no, no.

It's clear that this is coming from the President himself.

Right. Well, yes. Oh, and by the way,

at the moment he thinks he's making the opening speech.

But at the same time, so does President Sheinbaum of Mexico.

Right. Just thought

I'd throw that one in there for the fun of it.

Yes. And does Vincente know about this?

Vincente? Have you told him?

Right. What do you think? Right. OK.

Fuck's sake.

Sarah. Yes. Hi, Eric.

Thank you so much for this. Sure. I mean,

I'm hoping it's not going to take long, whatever it is.

Of course. Yes. Exactly so.

It's later in the morning,

and Chief Coordinating Attache

Eric Van Dupuytrens has invited

VP Sustainability and Climate Strategy Sarah Campbell

to meet a senior woman from HR for an open-ended discussion

to establish whether she's OK.

It seems that an anonymous member of the public

has contacted the Oversight Oversight Department

to complain about the professional conduct

of a senior executive.

So, I guess this is my fault. I should have warned you.

Of course it's not your fault. I mean, how dare he?

You don't know him.

What's beyond any doubt for Sarah is that,

as well as being anonymous,

that person is also her ex-husband.

Taking advantage of a junior

and vulnerable female colleague?

Right. It's ludicrous.

It's legal jargon. I know it is.

He's a lawyer.

Yeah, I know. I don't care. He's coming after us.

Coming after us? Right.

What does that mean?

One thing I do know, though. So...

I am not a vulnerable female. Well, no. Exactly.

I am not. No.

AMERICAN ROCK MUSIC

Right... Huh.

Great. OK. No, no. No, no. No.

We can say this is super interesting.

So this is terrible. Uh-huh.

My gosh.

It's Tuesday, and 2026 Events Producer Ryan Hertz

is back to update the executive team on developments

with the opening ceremony.

And overnight, the White House has sent over a mood board

of moods they'd like to see in it.

I mean, perhaps the first thing to say here, Ryan,

I mean, as a palette of, you know, of things,

this looks pretty heavily US focused.

Uh-huh. Yeah.

Right. I mean, I suppose that's one story to tell here.

Excuse me? But I'm assuming that,

as far as Vincente is... "Please, I ask you,

"do not send me this shit."

Right. "It is shit. I do not look at it."

Yes, but then also, just more generally,

when it comes to our other friends

and stakeholders in the whole 2026...

We have the opening ceremony at the Estadio Azteca

in Mexico City for a reason.

Well, yes. Yeah. Just remind us.

OK, so people have been playing soccer in Mexico

for thousands of years.

Thousands of years? Yeah. Um...

Since before the US even invented itself.

Excuse me? OK. Well...

So the US did not just invent itself. OK?

Yes, it did.

Nick...

Vinisteis aqui en barcos desde Europa, no?

What? OK. Stop it!

Please stop it.

This is not about Mexico. Excuse me?

It's not about the US or even Canada. Sorry, Owen.

No. Sure.

If you're telling the story of the Chichimecas people,

you're telling the story of all of us.

This is a story about the world before it all went wrong.

Right. When people understood

the land they lived on, because it told them who they were.

And we really need that story now. Yes?

Yes. We need to have that story

told to us like children.

And this is our chance to tell it to the world.

Yeah, can I just say? I'm with her.

Yes. Thank you, Sarah. No. Sure.

Then we can say in this moment we are all Chichimecas. Yes?

Yes. 100%.

Well, so before we get into the solution-based phase of this,

uh, Ryan, that's it, is it? There's nothing else we need to know?

Oh, yeah. Oh? Oh, yeah, there's more.

Right.

So for the duration of the tournament,

they want to rename the Azteca Stadium

the Stadium of the Americas.

Right. OK.

Huh. Interesting.

The Stadium of the Americas.

Uh-huh. Mm-hm. Right.

Well, I can do that for you. No, it's OK.

But that's what I do. I know, but sometimes it's just good

to have something to do with your hands.

For Ian, after the meeting, it's time for a coffee.

This other guy's trying to get hold of you, not the other guy.

Yes. I dunno,

he sounds a bit... I think I know who he is.

He keeps asking for your personal number.

So I didn't give it to him. No. Good.

I forwarded you the email he sent.

Right. Yes. Yeah.

I suppose I should ask, really. Did you read it?

The email? Yes.

Yes, so, like, a lot of it I couldn't understand.

No. Well, probably just as well, I think.

Yeah, just as well. Yeah. There you go.

Yeah, cool, yeah, no worries. Yeah, thanks.

I'm going to be tough with him.

Yes. Thanks, Will. Yeah,

no worries, yeah, cool.

Right.

Absolutely, although you should probably know,

the Olympics in 2028

is not something I've been thinking about up to now.

Like, there's enough with 2026. Right?

But I guess I was just curious to hear a bit more

about the whole sustainability brief there. Right?

Meanwhile, with a headhunter on the loose,

the opening ceremony finally coming towards them

in one way or another, and change in the air,

people are starting to think about the future.

I will say I'm not sure I've been headhunted before, so...

Oh. Well, that's kind of you.

Kind of you to say that.

Right.

Uh-huh.

So I wasn't going to talk to him originally.

Right. I guess he's just some guy,

you know, headhunter doing his job.

Well, yes, I know. He's been trying to get hold of me, too.

Right. But this is LA, right?

Sustainability actually means something there.

Like, they get it. They kind of invented it.

You are serious. I don't know.

And this is all to do with what's happened?

So this is not going to go away, right?

What, you mean...? He's not going to give it up.

He's not going to stop. OK, but that's his stuff.

And I am not going to let him do this to us.

So what, you'd leave? Well...

I mean, how's that going to help?

I don't know. Help us, I mean?

So, what if this was a moment for a new start?

A new start? Right. For us?

What if this is a solution waiting to happen?

OK, well, so obviously

quite a lot to think about this morning.

Yep. Ay, Dios mio.

Yeah, right.

It's Thursday, and there's a lot to think about

this morning. Overnight, the complex and sensitive issues

surrounding the opening ceremony have become

more sharply defined.

I mean, Ryan, I suppose the first thing is,

in terms of the boycott threat itself...

Yeah. How seriously should we be taking this? Sure. Right. Right.

Yes. So...

Following rumours of the White House's plans

to rename the Azteca Stadium the Stadium of the Americas,

the Mexican team is now threatening

to boycott the tournament altogether.

And several other countries are threatening to follow suit.

I mean, I suppose, basically, is this real?

Excuse me? Could it be part of some...?

Is it real? Well, I just mean...

We change the name of the stadium, they're not playing.

Right. And there is no World Cup.

OK, well... It's simple.

Good to get clarity on that straight away.

Sure.

This is an existential moment for the Oversight team.

If, up to now, they've been caught between

seriously Hispanic and relentlessly American visions

of the opening ceremony,

they're suddenly facing a situation

where there may be nothing to open at all -

unless they can find a common brink

to walk everybody backwards from.

I mean, let's think about this,

because in the end, this is about people, isn't it?

People? I mean, it always is.

Excuse my language, but what the fuck does that mean?

Well, so in terms of the White House, I mean,

what is it that the President actually wants here?

What do you mean, what does he want?

He wants to steal the Azteca Stadium

from the Mexican people!

That's something we need to talk about, obviously.

No, it is not. But in the meantime,

thinking laterally,

is there anything we can offer him

that might make him feel good?

Huh. Anything we can offer him?

Just as a way of taking the heat out of this.

Uh-huh. Yeah.

Well, there's Greenland, I suppose.

OK. Greenland?

Great. That would probably do it.

Sure. I mean, Eric, is there a way

of finding out if there's something that might work here?

Maybe using a backchannel? Ah, yes.

Maybe through Zurich? Well, just to bypass all the politics here.

Then perhaps we can say,

"Is there a problem in our world today

"that cannot be solved when great men share a golf cart?"

Excuse me? Yes. Well...

A golf cart? Huh.

That's not a backchannel. That's more of a front channel.

So then maybe there wouldn't be any problems in the world today

if all these men were not playing golf. Yes?

Yes, well... Huh.

Well... That's a bigger question.

Ah-ha. Yep. Bueno.

Yeah. No, I mean, to be fair, that's huge.

Right. Yes. And just so I know. I mean, hypothetically,

in terms of any meetings or interviews or whatever,

I mean, that could be done by Zoom, could it, or, you know?

Right. Yes.

But beyond the opening ceremony, for Ian,

this is a week with a number of things to think about

and a number of people to talk to

about a number of different things.

I mean, thanks for getting in touch in the first place.

I'm sorry I was so hard to get hold of, but...

Absolutely. Yes. And obviously I'll get back to you and...

Right. Yes.

Yes. No, I'm sure it will.

OK. Bye. Bye, bye.

OK, so just to say, before we start,

I think I'm right in saying, Gabriela,

Ryan isn't with us this morning.

No, he is not.

I mean, I'm not quite sure what the...

So, Ryan will not be with us because he is not here.

Right. Yeah, no, he's gone, yeah.

Right. End of story.

OK, good. Eric, I gather we have intelligence back from Zurich.

Well... Really? So... Emily.

Right. OK. What are we looking at here?

Do you really want me to answer that?

A picture of the President, yes?

100%. On the big screen.

OK. Huh.

Friday morning,

and with the opening ceremony crisis deepening

and more nations threatening to pull out

following the White House's intervention, it looks as if,

thanks to some covert backchannel activity by Zurich,

they may have found an answer to the question of

what you give to the biggest man in the world

to make him feel good.

Yeah. So what we're saying to him is,

he's going to be sitting there watching -

whether Melania's got her giant hat on, we don't know...

Yes, well. Right. So he looks up

and he pretty much sees himself on the big screen

any time, as much as he likes.

OK. Huh.

So the information we have -

this could be very helpful to us in the wider picture.

Meaning what? If we could give him that,

then some of the other stuff might...

Well, who can say? Pfft!

OK, so what I am hearing from their comms people,

we're going to need a figure here. Yes?

Oh, right, of course. A figure?

Exactly. OK.

An actual percentage of available screen time

compared to anyone else. Right.

This is gonna be fun, right? Yes.

OK... OK, OK. Bueno lo que...

I'm not telling you the figure for the Mexican President.

That's not going to happen. You're in the White House.

We're talking about the American President here.

It's become clear that the possible breakthrough

will depend on detailed negotiations

with the White House, the Mexican authorities,

and various other parties

as to the precise percentage of time

that so-called dignitaries will have on screen

during coverage of the opening ceremony.

Exacto. Perfecto. Right. Absolutely.

Muchas gracias. You got it.

Great. Bye-bye. Bye.

It's been tense and it's been difficult,

but eventually it looks as if

they might have finally got there.

63%, guys. Right.

That's a great outcome. Wow.

Vamos! What?

It is an outcome.

They asked for, like, 95, right? This is a terrific deal.

So just to be clear, because this is freaky stuff,

when it comes to time allocated to shots of these guys

during the ceremony,

we're saying 63% of them will be of President ?

Right. Exactly.

Jesus. Exactly. And in the meantime,

we're saying to the Mexican President that she has 29%.

Yeah, well. Because she is Mexican

and because she is a woman.

Well, that's her shit. Excuse me?

Do we want this opening ceremony

to happen or not? Well, yes.

I think we can say yes, we do. Yes?

Yes, we do, yes. In the meantime, Gabriela,

would it be an idea to give the Mexican team a sort of...

Sure. OK. ..you know,

an unofficial heads-up that things are going to be...?

I'm doing that. To get the de-escalation

process under way. Lo estoy haciendo ahora.

I don't want to be picky about this, but just before

we get into some kind of de-escalation frenzy here,

we have 63% .

I'm trying hard not to visualise that, by the way.

29% President Sheinbaum.

Exactly. Because...

Look, don't. So that's 92%.

Right. Right. And the other 8% is our guy. Right? Ah, yes.

It's Zurich. OK. Uh...

So we know for sure "our guy", as you call him,

is always 15%. Yes? Right. Because...

What? Always.

15%? No, no, no.

What, are you insane? Yes.

That's 107%. Right.

107? So, this is enshrined

in the official statutes of the tournament.

Yeah. I'm sorry. That's too much.

We just negotiated this whole fucking deal!

Yes. I mean, on the upside, I suppose the good news is,

all we need to do now

is just find another 7% from somewhere.

What? Yeah, no, 100%.

Yeah, so... Well?

OK. No, no, no.

So we're not getting down below 63%.

That is not gonna happen.

Bueno. Mexico is not going below 29. Yes?

This is the whole history of our country.

Right. Um... Yeah. Because I guess

where I was going with this is,

what about Canada? Excuse me?

Oh, right, yes. Canada?

Yeah. What about Canada?

Well, I guess, you know, just...

...what about Canada, really?

Yes. No. Good point.

Whilst the numbers are being re-crunched,

this is a good moment for Ian to catch up with his assistant.

Oh, these look nice. Yeah, no, they're Eric's.

Right. Yes.

D'you want one? They're Eric's.

Yes, I don't care.

And it's a week where there's a lot to catch up on.

Oh, yes. So, Ryan Hertz would like to meet you.

Oh, right. For a coffee or something,

to talk about what happened. Yes.

Yes, he's suggesting two weeks' time.

Two weeks' time? Yeah. Thursday.

He thinks he'll be out again by then.

Right.

I'm pretty sure I'm not going to be here then.

OK, cool, so...

In fact, I should probably say, Will...

You should probably know.

In fact, you'll hear this soon enough anyway.

I'm not going to be here then.

What? So...? I'm not going to be here.

I'm sorry.

I mean, I've been talking to them

for the past week or so.

Zoom interviews with people in LA and so on.

So, one of the things about this particular role,

for various reasons, it starts quite soon,

really soon actually.

So if I was going to make a decision...

And then here we're not far off the opening ceremony now.

So we're almost there. So in the end,

I suppose it seemed as good a time as any, really.

So is it a professional thing or...?

Right.

Or is it something more, you know...?

So this isn't what I thought was going to happen

when I came out here. Any of it, I mean.

I didn't think I was going to feel this way about someone,

not at this point in my life anyway,

or any point in my life, really.

But here I am. If that answers your question.

Yes. Well... I mean, yes.

LIVELY CHATTER

Ian Fletcher's shock decision to leave Miami

and accept a senior role in the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles

is a reminder for everyone that nothing lasts for ever.

But sometimes the big things in life can happen fast.

And for Ian himself,

this is a moment that could be not so much an ending

as a new beginning.

So we are ready?

We are all here, yes? Well, yes.

Yeah, cool, yeah. I suppose now is

as good a time... Although, hang on, where's Sarah?

Sarah? She was here a moment ago,

but I can't see her. Ah, yes, Sarah, yes.

Where is Sarah?

Yeah, I dunno, yeah.

He called me in the car this morning

and he's going after custody now if I go.

Right.

Where Sarah is, it turns out, is up on the terrace.

Lily says, "Mom, go, do it. You deserve it. I'll be OK."

She's 16, and she's a young woman.

But...

...I look at her

and there's a nine-year-old girl in there somewhere.

I can see it in her eyes and...

...I'm scared. Yes.

I never used to be scared.

I'm sorry.

I'm so, so sorry.

BELL RINGS

OK. OK. Thank you.

Having established where Sarah was and why,

Ian's task now is to go back downstairs

and deliver a leaving speech, in the knowledge

that if endings can sometimes be new beginnings,

they can equally often just be endings.

What can we say about Ian Fletcher?

Well, we can say it was an honour

and a privilege to serve under him.

But most of all, we can say thank you.

Thank you, Ian,

for steering us through dangerous waters

to within reach of safety and dry lands

before leaving us to take up your duty

on another great ship out on the high seas.

How we shall continue from now on...

...we can never know.

But in the meantime...

Thank you, Emily.

...we would like you to have this

as a token of our gratitude

and as a reminder of your time here with us in Miami.

WHOOPING AND APPLAUSE

Uh... Thank you.

Thank you. Well...

Uh... Well, thank you. Uh...

Well, th-thank you. Well, first of all,

thank you, Eric, for that.

And, uh... And then thank you for the...

...uh, for this. Yes.

So, for me, this has been a quite extraordinary time

here in Miami.

When I arrived, I didn't know quite what to expect.

Um, perhaps that was just as well.

So in some ways, I feel like I've only just arrived

and yet here I am, saying goodbye to it already.

Yes. So now I want to say thanks to you,

because I think I can say I've learned a lot.

I hope I have anyway.

About soccer, obviously - Phil.

About the optics of Mexico - Gabriela.

About Canadian logic - Owen.

About all things Zurich, up to a point - Eric.

Uh, literally everything I could ever want to know

about the US legal system - Nick.

And then perhaps about what matters in our world

beyond all that - Sarah -

what's really most precious in our life

and how we can try to save it.

And just so you know, this is not stuff I'm going to forget.

I think I can say already that my time here in Miami

is going to stay with me

wherever I end up in the future.

So thank you for that, all of you.

And for the alligator head, obviously.

CHEERS

BELL RINGS

APPLAUSE CONTINUES

Yes. And landscape.

At the end of the day, it's coming to the end

of Ian Fletcher's time in Miami.

No, it's pretty cool, cos, the thing is,

I've never been to LA. Right, yes.

Yeah. I was going to go once.

My parents were like, "Go and stay with your sister."

Yes. But my sister was like,

"We've got ants. You can't come."

Right. Ants? I know.

Will, we should probably talk about this.

Yeah, cos apparently they can eat your shoes and stuff.

Well, but... Yeah, I know, mental.

Yeah, no, cos what they do is...

Ah, OK. Yeah.

Will, would you mind taking this?

Yeah. No worries, cool. Great. Thanks.

So take it...? It doesn't matter.

Just take it. Yeah, no, cool, yeah, cool.

OK. Thanks for that. Yeah, no worries, yeah, cool.