Ben Affleck, Matt Damon To Produce Movie About Chuck Blazer, FIFA Corruption Scandal

Ben Affleck and Matt Damon are bringing some of FIFA’s recent drama to the big screen.

Affleck and Damon will produce a film about former American soccer executive Chuck Blazer and his role in FIFA’s corruption scandal, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The film will be based on Ken Bensinger’s book “The House of Deceit,” which chronicles a litany of the misdeeds Blazer committed during his lengthy career in the soccer world between 1990 and 2013.

Warner Bros. earned the right to turn “House of Deceit” into a film by winning a bidding war, and Affleck and Damon will produce the film through their Pearl Street Films operation in conjunction with Guymon Casady and Darin Friedman of Entertainment 360. Gavin O’Connor will direct the film.

Blazer, 70, is central to the U.S. government’s case against leaders of the soccer world’s governing bodies including FIFA. Blazer enjoyed a lengthy and lucrative career as the executive vice president of the U.S. Soccer Federation, CONCACAF’s general secretary and a member of FIFA’s executive committee. But Blazer’s personal empire came crumbling down after nearly three decades when U.S. discovered the extent of his wrongdoing.

Blazer’s cooperation with the U.S. Department of Justice is central to its case against 14 people, including nine current and former FIFA officials, who were indicted on fraud, racketeering and other corruption charges last month.

Affleck and Damon will bring the complicated tale of Blazer’s role in the FIFA arrests to the cinema. Time will tell whether it out-performs that other FIFA movie, “United Passions,” which grossed a whopping $918 in U.S. theaters.