And thus spake Gianni Infantino in a jaw dropping diatribe which felt more like a confessional. This on the eve of the World Cup. What did he expect? Three Hail Mary’s to absolve him of complicity in overlooking Qatar’s appalling record of labour abuses and disdain for human rights. Thousands of migrant workers died. Faceless and forgotten. A small price paid for underwriting this whole World Cup thing.

“Today I feel Qatari. Today I feel Arab. Today I feel African. Today I feel gay. Today I feel disabled. Today I feel [like] a migrant worker.”

This was Infantino seeing a resonance to being bullied and marginalized growing up for being red haired and freckled. He’s bald now and pigment intact. And FIFA president. He was also indignant with Europeans lecturing their supercilious morality.

“What we Europeans have been doing for the last 3,000 years, we should be apologizing for the next 3,000 years before starting to give moral lessons.”

Fair enough. However lets close look at FIFA, shall we? Their list of presidents? Seems like a theme except for that interim presidency of Issa Hayatou. Maybe if one feels so strongly about this imbalance, we can actually start going around and getting representation truly reflecting the global game. But this is just high mindedness hiding corruption. FIFA is an empire, Qatar is its sweatshop.

Troop Leader: “Here we say that the freedom is in your hands, so if you go against us, so go your hands.”