Virtually every day of the tournament provides new threads on the issue that has become the number one controversy, namely the situation of sexual minorities in Qatar and related anti-discrimination protests.

Even if, according to a poll, the vast majority of Britons find Qatar’s organization of major sporting events unacceptable. That’s the opinion of 71 percent. football fans and 58 percent. of the general population, and 55 per cent of fans in England would even support a boycott of the Championship by their own national team.

In the UK, however, there have been no major calls for this, as there have been recently in stadiums in Germany. This is likely in part due to England being mentioned among the viable contenders for the title for the first time in many years, and Wales returning to the World Cup after a 64-year hiatus.

As for the fans, the concern in recent days was not whether, but how to fly to Qatar in the event of a ground staff strike at Heathrow, as well as the decision announced just before the start of the tournament that there would be no beer sales in stadiums.

On the other hand, no British politician said anything like French President Emmanuel Macron already before the start of the World Cup, to “not combine sport with politics”. Yesterday, Opposition Leader Keir Starmer began his weekly Q&A session with the Prime Minister by congratulating the England and Wales players, but then stressed that the World Cup ‘is not property of FIFA or property of the host country” and that gay fans cannot travel freely to Qatar is “a disgrace” for FIFA.

But not all politicians’ statements were so clear-cut. The remarks of the head of diplomacy, James Cleverly, who called on homosexual supporters a few days before the inauguration to respect the customs in force in Qatar and not to display their orientation, were badly received, as was his announcement that he would go there. himself, as one of his duties as Foreign Secretary is to make sure UK fans are safe.

The issue of LGBT rights in Qatar is by far the biggest of all World Cup controversies in British media. Ahead of the England-Iran match, more attention than the team was given to whether Harry Kane – and several other European captains – would play in the OneLove armband, while in Wales the main concern is not no longer Friday’s game against Iran but confiscation cases. fans wearing Qatari rainbow hats which some of them brought with them instead of the traditional red, yellow and green ones.

This topic has overshadowed all other controversies in the media, such as near-slave labor and even several thousand deaths among foreign workers building stadiums and other infrastructure, corruption through which Qatar, which has no football tradition, has ensured the organization of the championship or the enormous costs related to the tournament.

Above all, the low media presence of the first issue is quite surprising, because it was the British media, in particular “The Guardian”, which were the first to sound the alarm about the terrible working conditions of foreign workers. Another British newspaper, The Sunday Times, published documents in 2014 proving Qatar’s choice to host was aided by bribes, but this issue now receives less media coverage than the plight of LGBT fans. .

David Beckham has become a character combining both leads. The former England star is now one of the faces of the tournament, saying in adverts that the tournament is a “platform for progress” and that Qatar is changing for the better and becoming more tolerant. He was supposed to get at least 10, and according to some reports, even 150 million pounds.

This money will certainly make it easier for him to endure the many criticisms he receives for becoming an ambassador for a bad cause and destroying his “gay icon” image, which he earned by appearing years ago. as the first football player on the cover of an American gay magazine.

Beckham’s reputation will certainly suffer, but FIFA remains the undisputed leader in terms of rate of decline. According to a YouGov poll, conducted after the ‘OneLove’ armband dispute, positive opinion of the world federation is currently at eight percent. British, while a month before the tournament it was 14% and negative 69%. against 54% a month earlier. Among football fans alone, the percentage of positive opinions fell from 29% to 29%. to 13%, and the negatives went from 62%. up to 79 percent

FIFA is unlikely – if ever – to regain the trust of the British people, but whether the Qatar Championships will be remembered more through the lens of sport or controversy is primarily up to the players. In the case of the Welsh, nothing more than breaking out of the group will be a big hit, whereas if the England team did indeed win the World Cup, the euphoria associated with it will certainly eclipse the dispute over the form of the captain’s armband.