In a country where sports stars are feted like religious idols and the media saturated with athletic competition, sport has long since past the point where it became more than just a pastime.

But it's not out on the field where sport's most powerful compete. Behind the grandstands and up in the corporate boxes are the operatives who influence the outcomes of this multi-billion industry – the most powerful of which dominate with the same characteristic shrewdness demonstrated by any other captain of industry.

Begins publishing 24 October 2011.