A World Cup with no participants – it could be Gianni Infantino’s boldest move yet | Marina Hyde

You’ve got to admire the Fifa president’s chutzpah in trying to flog off football’s greatest prize. If only Uefa wasn’t being so pesky about it all.

你不得不佩服国际足联主席的厚颜无耻，竟试图兜售足球界最珍贵的奖杯。只希望欧足联别对此如此纠缠不休。

Imagine a plan so distasteful that even the Americans and a Middle Eastern nepo-royal football boss can’t be doing with it. Such is the status of Fifa president Gianni Infantino’s scheme to sell off stakes in the World Cup to private investors. More historically, perhaps, the 55 nations that make up Uefa have reacted to this horror show by voting unanimously to boycott Fifa tournaments, including World Cups, if Infantino presses ahead. That would mean Spain and Portugal boycotting their own men’s World Cup next time around, which you’d think – not to call it too soon – would come off as slightly bad vibes.

设想一个如此令人作呕的计划，连美国人和那位中东的“裙带王室”足球高管都对此嗤之以鼻。这就是国际足联主席詹尼·因凡蒂诺试图向私人投资者出售世界杯股份计划的现状。更具历史意味的是，组成欧足联的55个国家对此“灾难现场”的反应是：若因凡蒂诺执意推进，将一致投票抵制包括世界杯在内的国际足联赛事。这意味着西班牙和葡萄牙将在下届赛事中抵制他们自己的男子世界杯，你大概会想——虽然这么说可能为时过早——这听起来会有些晦气。

A testing moment, then, for the haunted cue-ball. Again. Can it really already be time to turn to Infantino once more, even after he appeared in this spot only on Tuesday, after his 15-page Instagram crash-out about his haters? Yes. Yes, I’m afraid it can. Demanding the federations of the world sell off the World Cup to some fund led by Donald Trump’s son-in-law’s brother will regrettably draw attention to you in ways that will prove difficult to control. As indicated, the Fifa president’s plan has contrived to appear vulgar to the North American confederation, Concacaf, as well as the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).

那么，对于这位“被鬼魂缠身的台球”来说，又是一个考验时刻。又是这样。真的又要轮到因凡蒂诺出来收拾残局了吗？尽管他仅在周二才因为那篇长达15页、痛斥“黑粉”的Instagram长文而陷入这种境地？是的。是的，恐怕真的只能如此。要求全球各足协将世界杯出售给由唐纳德·特朗普女婿的兄弟领导的某个基金，遗憾地会以一种难以控制的方式将注意力引向你。如前所述，国际足联主席的计划已刻意显得粗俗不堪，令中北美洲及加勒比海足球协会（CONCACAF）以及亚洲足球联合会（AFC）感到不适。