When they checked into their rooms at the Grand Hyatt in São Paulo, Brazil, just before last year’s World Cup, global soccer officials were greeted with leather gift bags from the country’s soccer federation. Each bag contained tourism books, a key ring, a Brazil jersey — and, in a small velvet pouch, a wristwatch worth $26,000.
Some realized that the watch, by the Swiss brand Parmigiani, was more than a trinket and turned it in to FIFA, the sport’s global governing body. But many officials accepted the watch, establishing it as a symbol of the largess enjoyed by soccer’s leaders.