LONDON: Saudi Arabia just executed 37 people. It is leading a military intervention in Yemen that has triggered one of the worst humanitarian crisis in the world.
The game-changer — the thing that makes the Saudis’ ambition credible — is that their friend, FIFA’s president Gianni Infantino, wants to expand the next World Cup from 32 teams to 48. FIFA’s feasibility study said this would require at least two more stadiums in one other country. FIFA president Gianni Infantino hopes to win support for a 48-team 2022 World Cup at a meeting in Miami.
These words open the route to a deal: The Saudis agree to drop the blockade , and in return, they share the World Cup. No wonder Infantino has become chummy with Saudi Arabia’s young crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman . They sat fraternally with Vladimir Putin at the opening match of the Russian World Cup, MBS grinning ruefully as Saudi Arabia lost 5-0 to the hosts.Now Qatar is unhappily negotiating with FIFA about how exactly to expand the World Cup.
But if the Saudis do share the World Cup, the daily global scrutiny might shock a regime that isn’t exactly a master of international public relations. FIFA is now proactively contacting human-rights groups to discuss the tournament’s expansion.SOME AWKWARDNESS
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