How sky-high ticket prices, war & politics could impact the World Cup

This is Ira Glass. On this American life, we tell stories about when things change. Like for this guy David, whose entire life took a sharp, unexpected, and very unpleasant turn. And it did take me a while to realize that it's basically because the monkey pressed the button. That's right.

Because the monkey pressed the button. Surprising stories every week, wherever you get your podcasts. This is Fresh Air. I'm Dave Davies. The FIFA World Cup opens this week with soccer matches in the United States, Canada, and Mexico.

With 48 teams in 104 matches, this will be the biggest World Cup ever. Gianni Infantino, the president of FIFA, the international federation that runs the tournament, has declared that this will be the greatest event that humanity, mankind has ever seen and ever will see. So yes, there's Plenty of excitement, more than five million tickets have been sold to international travelers alone. But this is also a season of some discontent surrounding the COP.

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