Why is the U.S. bringing down the hammer on FIFA?

In recent years, FIFA has made news not just for enforcing rules on the soccer field, but also for allegedly breaking them off it.

The body that governs soccer, the most popular sport in the world, is a multibillion-dollar behemoth.

Great power, yes. Great responsibility? Not so much, critics say. Continue..

FIFA has been regularly accused of bribery and kickbacks, allegations that reached a fever pitch after it awarded Russia and Qatar the World Cup in 2018 and 2022, respectively.

Afterward, the group carried out its own internal investigation and cleared itself.

So why is the United States, a country where soccer ranks far below football and basketball in popularity, now taking top FIFA officials to court on corruption charges?

Most of the 14 people indicted aren't Americans.

But as U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch lays it out, the suspects planned their crimes in the U.S.; they used the U.S. banking system; they planned to profit through schemes that targeted the "growing U.S. market for soccer."

"This is a U.S. case," David Zirin, sports editor for The Nation magazine, said Wednesday on CNN.

In order to understand how, we'll have to take you through a journey that, as you'll see, involves Americans at all stages.