Football’s biggest World Cup is under way in the US, Mexico and Canada, as 48 teams battle through 104 matches to decide sports’ most prestigious title.
At the centre of the six-week event is the Swiss-Italian Gianni Infantino, head of Fifa and a multi-billion dollar commercial and sporting empire that is rivalled only by the Olympics.
Infantino has long insisted that “politics should stay out of football and football should stay out of politics".
But politics has followed Infantino wherever he goes – and nowhere is that more evident than in the Middle East.
Since he replaced the corruption-mired Sepp Blatter as Fifa president in 2016, the former Uefa boss has sought to stage peace-making matches and ceremonial handshakes.
