The movie is a historical drama that traces the origins of the world's governing body for association football through three distinct eras and the leaders who shaped it:

While the film is a dramatized history, it is well-known for several unique real-world circumstances:

Led by Jules Rimet (played by Gérard Depardieu), a group of passionate Europeans come together with the "simple idea" of creating a unified international football federation and a global tournament, which would eventually become the World Cup .

The narrative follows João Havelange (Sam Neill) as he takes over the organization and begins turning it into a massive, commercially successful global powerhouse.