While host country Qatar is unlikely, in the extreme, to win the World Cup which starts on Sunday, it is in serious contention for the most-controversial-host-nation-ever trophy.
Almost as soon as it was announced as the place where the 2022 World Cup would take palce way back in 2010 – after seeing off rival challenges from the US and Australia among other countries – there was consternation.
In the first instance, people wondered how a tiny country in the desert, with so little footballing infrastructure and scorching hot summer heat could possibly host the biggest footballing competition on the planet.
The answer was to build loads of stadiums in and around the capital Doha and move the tournament to the northern hemisphere’s winter. Plans to air-condition the outdoor stadiums were quietly shelved.
Then there were questions about who would build the shiny new stadiums.
The answer was to bring in migrant workers, take their passports, pay them low wages, forbid them from moving from one employer to any other and generally treat them very shabbily indeed.
In more recent times, questions have been asked about how the Qatari regime’s attitude to women and to the LGBTQ community could possibly square with FIFA’s stated aims of inclusivity and equality.
The answer to that question remains – as yet – unclear.
So great have the controversies been and so unusual has the timing of the tournament been, that the actual football has been largely overshadowed in the build up. Will Brazil, France or Argentina be going home with the trophy?
Can you write off the Germans this time?
And what about England?
In the News talks to sports writer and broadcaster Ken Early about the controversies in the build up to the World Cup and what might happen when the Sunday comes and the first whistle blows.
