FIFA president hits out at Qatar World Cup criticism in extraordinary speech ahead of tournament

He spoke for nearly an hour: an extraordinary speech in which FIFA’s President Gianni Infantino railed against western hypocrisy over migrant workers, declared, “today I feel gay”  as he insisted LGBT fans would be safe in Qatar and said as a ginger child he understood discrimination.

His outburst, in defence of World Cup host Qatar, comes on the eve of the tournament with the country’s record – not the football to come – still heavily in the spotlight.