The U.S. women’s national team beat Japan in a tremendous 5-2 victory Sunday night during the 2015 Women’s World Cup final. Nothing could put a damper on the sheer exuberance pouring off the national team as they celebrated their first win since 1999.

But just before Abby Wambach, Christie Rampone, Carli Lloyd, and the rest of the U.S. team approached the dais in order to accept their awards, spectators were treated to a very odd procession. No, we’re not talking about the female Mountie. (This was Vancouver, we should be prepared for Mounties at any given moment.) We’re talking about the string of medal-bearing models who looked like they were stalking right out of Robert Palmer’s “Addicted to Love” video.

These models appeared to be a new FIFA tradition brought about, at least in part, by the international soccer federation's recent corruption scandal. In the recent past, the glamorous women parading out with medals during the World Cup trophy ceremonies are flight attendants for Emirates Airlines, a major sponsor of past World Cup games. They were there when Spain won the Men’s World Cup in 2010, when Japan won the Women’s World Cup in 2011, and just last year when Germany won the men’s tournament in Brazil. But Emirates pulled its sponsorship of FIFA in late 2014 while the soccer group's corruption scandal was still incubating.

As unexpected a sight as those Emirati attendants in their khaki uniforms and jaunty red hats were, they never caused quite the same stir the new models from this year’s tournament did. Perhaps we can chalk the difference up to necklines. Or, more likely, we can attribute this year’s negative reaction to the increased awareness of the shadier side of FIFA or, more specifically, the repellently sexist attitude of its disgraced president Sepp Blatter. The attending FIFA officials were booed before Sunday’s trophy ceremony) and Blatter didn’t attend the World Cup at all because, many speculate, he would risk being charged and extradited if he did. But even if Blatter himself wasn’t in attendance, his legacy loomed large. As John Oliver pointed out in his popular, scathing takedown of Blatter, the ex-FIFA president has some distasteful opinions on women athletes. Blatter is on record saying,