The tournament – designed as a glittering showcase ahead of the 2026 World Cup – has had to contend with the prospect of empty seats along with controversial qualification rules and player welfare concerns after an exhausting European season.

In early March, a week after Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky’s slanging match seized international headlines, Fifa arrived at the White House for some theatrics of its own.Gianni Infantino, the governing body’s president — or the “King of Soccer”,