If a Ronaldo dives in a penalty box and nobody is around to see it...

Football truly is the global sport, and if Infantino keeps digging in his latest hole, from his tax-free residence of Qatar, he might just meet the local players on Easter Island.

Much like Botox, what started out as a vanity project, a little “look at me”, is beginning to look silly, misshapen, and, frankly, ugly.

As 4:00pm hit on Friday, August 20th, in Zurich much of the city would have been on the terraces enjoying an end-of-summer pint — or grosses, as the locals say — for the fine price of 10 Swiss Francs. Across town at the FIFA Headquarters, located south of Zurich Zoo on the appropriately named FIFA-Strasse it must have been as dry as it was in Doha, the tax-free residence of FIFA President, Gianni Infantino.

For 4:00pm that day was the deadline for TV companies the world over to bid on the rights to broadcast the brand-new Club World Cup in 2025.

With a total of zero bids received, it seems there is more chance that Infantino will obtain (grow) some of Riccardo Calafiori’s “aura” than there is of his expanded and unwanted event being a success.

With high profile players having already rubbished the tournament, and no official sponsors being announced as of yet, one can only wonder how the man who once claimed…

“Today, I feel Qatari. Today, I feel Arab. Today, I feel African. Today, I feel gay. Today, I feel disabled. Today, I feel a migrant worker”

…must see himself today, as he stands in his pearl bathroom, looks in the mirror, examines his crow’s feet, pucks his lips, and struggles to smile.