UEFA and FIFA are too late: Russia’s sportswashing has served its purpose

Rewind three and a half years and Fifa president Gianni Infantino was at the Kremlin declaring that the world was now ‘in love’ with Russia. Illustration: Matthew Green

Mission accomplished. Gather up the buffet. Pack away the trinkets. Shred the manual of state-approved menacing platitudes. Sport has served its purpose here. And whatever it might choose to do from this point, all that really seems certain is that Vladimir Putin will not be listening.

Thank you, Fifa, Uefa, the IOC and our many commercial partners, for your invaluable help with the messaging. That is a wrap.