FIFA spent $27 million on a film that portrays Sepp Blatter as a hero

"United Passions" is causing a stir after it was revealed that FIFA had contributed over $27 million to fund a feature that stars Tim Roth playing a 'heroic' Sepp Blatter without the knowledge of some senior executives.

Just before the World Cup got underway, Blatter's decision to run again for the FIFA presidency was overwhelming condemned by major Football associations. To make matters worse Blatter said that claims of allegations surrounding Qatar's 2022 World Cup bid were fuelled by racism causing a huge backlash from the media and even some of his own supporters.

Trailer : United Passions

After making a low-key appearance at the Cannes Film Festival, the film has yet to secure major distribution deals. The official trailer has only been viewed 60,000 times as of today but news of Blatter's alleged 'tweaking of the script', might not go down so well, while the BBC estimates the lump sum cost of making the movie was equivalent to an entire year's budget allocated to helping poor countries develop football projects.

Back in May Business Insider called the film a 'Propaganda parody', while the Washington Post recently stated that "some FIFA executive committee members privately said they had no idea football income was paying for a feature film."

So far, the film has received a 1.8/10 rating on IMDB, and stars Tim Roth, Sam Neill and French actor Gérard Depardieu.