New to ThreeNow in January

Among next month’s exclusive premieres on ThreeNow will be the Discovery+ documentary The Men Who Sold the World Cup (January 14).

Reads the blurb for the two-parter: “With exclusive interviews, the documentary reveals the truth behind the selling of the world’s biggest sporting event to the highest bidders and how the crooked, crazy characters who stalked the corridors of FIFA were eventually evicted from their seats of power and lives of luxury.”

The first episode focuses on Sunday Times investigators Heidi Blake and Jonathan Calvert looking at the corruption in FIFA, and the second looks at the FBI and IRS investigators who exposed the criminal behaviour at the organisation, reports Broadcast magazine.

[Then FIFA president Sepp] Blatter’s defence of his actions will take a large role in the documentary. Some of his quotes include: “I told the President my idea, that the World Cup 2022 shall go back to the United States. We would not have this discussion if it came out as I wanted.”

He added: “What can you do against the international media saying FIFA is corrupt? FIFA is not corrupt. People in FIFA were corrupt. But as they were members of FIFA, naturally they say ‘who is responsible? It’s the President.’”

He continued: “People should realise that I have given 41 years into the FIFA. What I have done for football, they should appreciate. You can convince everybody of something, but you cannot convince yourself of something you are not. So, I cannot convince me [sic] to say you are a criminal because I’m not a criminal.”

Also new will be:

Beyond Borders (January 14): Filmmaker Juan-Peter Schulze  and influencer/travel vlogger Louis Cole set off on a dangerous mission to circumnavigate the world in a single-engine, 1974 Cessna T210L airplane named Baloo.

The Impossible Row (January 14): A team of world record-holding explorers and athletes prepare to cross the most dangerous 600 miles of open ocean — Drake Passage, between South America and Antartica — in a rowboat.

Miracle Fishing: Kidnapped Abroad (January 14): 25 years after Miles Hargrove’s father was kidnapped outside their home in Cali, Colombia, by the FARC, he turns the Video8 diary kept into a documentary chronicling his family’s incredible story.

Rebel Hearts (January 14): How the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary fought for equality, their livelihoods, and their own freedom against an all-powerful Cardinal in 1960s Los Angeles.

Future People: The Family Of Donor 5114 (January 14): Follows a group of adolescents who discover that they were conceived from the same sperm donor, forming an unlikely family of familiar strangers — 37 half-siblings and counting.

Tarek and Heather: The Big I Do (January 10): Hour-long special in which Tarek El Moussa and Heather Rae Young put the final touches on their upcoming wedding.