As Qatar’s Fifa World Cup 2022 kicks off, a storm of controversy threatens to overshadow the tournament. The backlash has been greater than when recent sport events were hosted by other authoritarian regimes like China and Russia. Several French cities are not going to set up public ‘fan zones’ due to human rights and environmental concerns. A national Italian newspaper, Il Fatto Quotidiano, announced it will not publish a single piece about the tournament (Italy did not qualify, but the paper’s statement says it would have made the same decision even if it had.)