It’s been 14 years since Will Ferrell starred in Kicking & Screaming, a movie that had something to do with soccer and prominently featured Mike Ditka in what we assume was a not-so-elaborate gag on the fact that most of the world calls soccer “football.” Now, finally, Will Ferrell is returning to the world of soccer fiction with HBO’s adaptation of American Huckster: How Chuck Blazer Got Rich From—And Sold Out—The Most Powerful Cabal In World Sports by Mary Papenfuss and Teri Thompson. Before we get into what this is, though, can we just say that the titles of non-fiction books have gotten out of control? Is the book business so brutal that consumers can’t even be bothered to look at the bag of a book to understand that American Huckster is about a guy named Chuck Blazer who got fired from—and sold out—the most powerful cabal in world sports? Actually yeah, probably.
Anyway, Blazer was a former high-up executive at FIFA, the wildly corrupt governing body that controls all of soccer, and in 2013 he admitted to working with other FIFA executives to accept bribes from potential World Cup hosts. He also had a great big bushy beard, so Will Ferrell’s going to look real cool in this movie. Also, Russian Doll creator Leslye Headland is writing the latest draft of the American Huckster adaptation and will direct it for HBO as well, so maybe there will be a new twist where Blazer has to re-live the day where he decided to take bribes over and over again.