Qatar 2022: "The World Cup is uniting the world" (Gianni Infantino, FIFA)

"The World Cup is uniting the world. Football has this magic, this special feature that when the ball rolls, people come together. They come in a joyful atmosphere," said Gianni Infantino (SUI/ITA), president of FIFA, 08/12/2022, the day before the first two quarter-finals of the 2022 World Cup.

I have to admit that before the World Cup, we were worried about having so many fans from so many countries, at the same time, in the same place. This does not happen in a normal World Cup. In a normal World Cup, you have in one city, fans of two countries, not more. Here, you have 32 countries plus all the other fans from the world who come to enjoy the World Cup together in the same place," said Infantino, noting that the maximum distance between two stadiums in the tournament - which has eight in total - is 68km, between Al Bayt Stadium, the northernmost, and Al Janoub Stadium, the southernmost. This is the first time the World Cup has been held in such a small area (with the exception of the first edition in 1930, which was held in Montevideo, Uruguay).

"I was saying this some years ago…