Irish Examiner View: Fifa World Cup a test of character for football

Goodness knows what condition football will be in after four more years of Fifa management, let alone eight.

FIfa president Gianni Infantino's 60-minute monologue has been the subject of derision. Picture: Nick Potts/PA Wire

Opera, it is sometimes said, is a noisy way of telling a silly story. 

It must have been the Italian lineage of Fifa president Gianni Infantino that persuaded him into that risibly performative rendition of his opening remarks for the 22nd World Cup at the Doha media centre: “Today I feel Qatari; today I feel Arab...” ad infinitum.