THIS Sunday, the FIFA World Cup 2022, the most expensive tournament ever held, finally kicks off in Qatar, when the oil rich hosts take on Ecuador, in the colossal tented Al Bayt Stadium. An apt sounding name, given it's one of eight specially built or refurbished multibillion pound stadiums, commissioned for the event.

Speaking as an avid football fan, someone who loves the beautiful game, I don’t think I have been less interested in a match, a tournament, let alone a prestigious World Cup since I was in short trousers, and I’m not alone.

It’s not because Scotland’s baw was again burst during the qualifiers. As a Scot I’m well used to that crushing disappointment and have managed to enjoy and gorge myself on every World Cup tournament since France 1998, when we last qualified.

It just feels wrong, it shouldn’t be happening, definitely not in Qatar and certainly not at this time of the year, when any benefits to our struggling hospitality sector will be marginal to say the least and will be as flat as a left-over pint of Budweiser, one of the tournament sponsors.

Paul Togneri of the British Beer and Pub Association was slightly more upbeat saying:“The sector is in need of a pick-me-up at the moment, and while it is certainly a lot less than if Scotland had managed to successfully navigate the playoffs, we do expect a small boost for pubs. We’re expecting up to 1.2 million additional pints to be poured in Scottish venues.”

This desert storm was kicked off in 2010 when the avaricious overlords of world football FIFA decided to award the Gulf state of Qatar the hosting rights. Ever since the tournament has been mired in controversy.

It was a shocking decision to award Qatar the tournament, one that should have been immediately red carded by the former FIFA president, the slippery Sepp Blatter. A ruling that he now freely admits was a "mistake", but passes any blame, as you would a ball, to the then-UEFA president Michel Platini for swinging the vote in Qatar's favour.

The sums of money which the Gulf state has invested in turning our beautiful game ugly have been truly eyewatering.

Nearly £200 billion has been spent by the ruling Sheiks to host this global feast of football, with some analysts estimating that the spend may yet exceed £250 billion, more than the total cost of all the previous 21 tournaments combined.

The monetary cost of building the stadiums, expensive “white elephants” which will be dismantled after the tournament ends, and the non-footballing infrastructure, including a new metro system, an international airport, and 100 new hotels, has been obscene. But the disregard shown by the Qatari Government and FIFA to the appalling loss of human life during the building of this desert monstrosity has been reprehensible.

Lives, it seems, are the only things that are cheap in Qatar, with over 6500 low paid migrant construction workers, mainly from the poorer SE Asian sub-continent, estimated to have been killed on World Cup building sites.

Human Rights Watch has called the violation of human rights “a stain”. It says the World Cup's legacy is dependant on “whether Qatar remedies with FIFA the deaths and other abuses of migrant workers who built the tournament, carries out labour reforms, and protects human rights for all in Qatar, including the LGBT + community who are arbitrarily arrested, beaten and harassed by the authorities – not just visiting fans and footballers.”

FIFA and Qatar’s global reputation may have sunk lower into the ever-thickening quicksand, but football can still be a winner for the 5bn armchair fans who’ll be watching the tournament. Football can come home for them all, just as long as human right violations off the park don’t become the main talking points.