Gianni Infantino: ultimate ball-breaker

When does it end? When will football’s extraordinary growth stop? Will it ever cease to be the world’s most popular sport? There was a time when it would have seemed inconceivable to a Roman in the Circus Maximus that the world would not forever be gripped by chariot racing, but nothing is eternal. Perhaps, for football, this is it, not the end — but the beginning of the end. There have been plenty of moments over the past few years when the goose that lays the golden eggs has been endangered by the people entrusted to look after it, with their odd combination of complaisance and avarice. But the game has perhaps never seemed more imperiled than it did on Tuesday when Fifa president Gianni Infantino announced his plans to sell off a stake in the World Cup. The European governing body, Uefa