Now let’s have a glimpse of the other side of the story. During the 2022 World Cup, 23 people died in Bangladesh because of football. Not one of them was a football player. No one was wearing cleats or standing on a pitch. Seven were electrocuted hanging flags from power lines. Six had cardiac arrests during matches. Five were killed in fights between rival fans! A violent encounter between Bangladeshi Argentina and Brazil supporters was even recorded in an Italian refugee camp. Thousands of miles from home, in a country that was not theirs, still fighting about two teams from a continent neither had ever visited.

This is the part that makes people stop and stare. The part that makes foreign journalists fly to Dhaka with cameras, looking for an explanation. They usually settle on the easy ones, Maradona, 1986 World Cup or the arrival of colour TV.