From Sunday, Qatar will host the Middle East’s first World Cup and the first to be staged in winter — and it will be the tournament’s most controversial in 92 years.
An estimated 1.2 million visitors are expected to descend on the capital Doha, along with a global TV audience of five billion, for what governing body Fifa optimistically hopes will be, “a celebration of unity and passion for the game we love so much”. It will certainly be a football World Cup like no other.
