It sounds like a Tom Clancy screenplay, an international tale of conflict straight from central casting: the dogged investigator, charged with uncovering wrongdoing; the aged overlord, determined to keep the investigator’s report from seeing the light of day; and the well-intentioned agents of change pushing for justice while battling the old cronies (and, naturally, themselves).

Sometimes it feels as if all that is missing from the world soccer scene these days is a gravelly-voiced narrator intoning, “Sepp Blatter said that’s all he knew ... but was it?”

By now, even the most engaged soccer fans may find FIFA’s machinations a bit too much to follow. But there is an important, if alarming, revelation to be taken from this latest twist, so the short version of the story goes something this: Four years ago, FIFA’s executive committee, led by its longtime president, Blatter, voted to award the 2018 World Cup to Russia and the 2022 World Cup to Qatar. Both results were stunning, as was the notion of voting for two tournaments at the same time, which seemed to invite vote trading.

Allegations of corruption and a tainted process emerged even before the votes were taken, and they have been consistently denied. Nonetheless, a number of men on the executive committee, known as the ExCo, were suspended or opted to end their careers prematurely, and in 2012, FIFA appointed Michael J. Garcia, a former United States attorney, to lead an investigation into the mess.