The unprecedented twin investigations into FIFA have demonstrated that the opaque organization is subject to the law, not above it.

The Swiss are looking into the controversial 2018 and 2022 World Cup soccer bids, which awarded the games to Russia and Qatar, respectively.

The Americans have outlined a case that sounds like a mafia movie script, with allegations of fraud, racketeering and money laundering over a period of more than 20 years. Several senior FIFA officials are among the defendants facing extradition from Europe, South America and the Caribbean.

"This really is the World Cup of fraud," said Richard Weber, head of the Internal Revenue Service's Criminal Investigation division.

Soccer is the most popular sport in the world, with 240 million people regularly playing the game, according to a FIFA estimate. Even in the United States, traditionally considered indifferent to soccer, interest is growing. More Americans watched last year's U.S.-Portugal World Cup game than watched the 2014 NBA Finals or baseball's 2013 World Series.

The bombshell announcement of the U.S. indictments was met with the sense that somebody was finally doing something substantial about the corruption allegations that have dogged soccer's global gatekeeper for years.

"We could make a case that this is the biggest sports bust in history today," USA Today Sports columnist Christine Brennan told CNN. "This is historic. This is monumental."

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