When the handcuffs went on seven officials of the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) last month, the headline in the New York Times only registered surprise that its president, Sepp Blatter, was not among them.

Two days later, after calls for Blatter to resign from everyone from the progressive NGO Avaaz to British Prime Minister David Cameron, Blatter claimed victory in his reelection campaign for FIFA president in a rambling speech that cited the gods of at least three different religions and included the characteristically megalomaniacal line, “I am the president now, the president of everybody.” Blatter’s triumphalism was short-lived, however. He resigned his post just a week later, saying FIFA needed “profound restructuring” and that his mandate to rule was not “supported by everyone in the world of football.”

So what’s at issue in the indictments of top FIFA officials? The corruption associated with international soccer’s top hierarchy is truly staggering. Indeed, we may never know how much money FIFA has stolen outright or gained via unscrupulous deals, or how much it has spent on bribes across the world.