It was a scene that should become infamous, more absurd than anything even witnessed on 2 December 2010.
Fourteen years on, on Thursday 11 December 2024, Fifa’s congress remotely applauded through two “decisions” that acclaimed the hosts of the 2030 and 2034 World Cups: Morocco-Portugal-Spain with three matches in Argentina-Paraguay-Uruguay for 2030, and then Saudi Arabia for the tournament four years later. And that was only the half of it. The tinny applause came from a display of Big Brother-style screens, Fifa president Gianni Infantino standing proudly in front of it. It was an image that somehow represented a devolution from the shock on Sepp Blatter’s face as he read out “Qatar” on that day in 2010.
