From the Editors

No one can remember a World Cup like it. For many of us it feels weirdly out of place, as if it’s being held in the wrong country at the wrong time of year. Fans are as confused as they are divided about a tournament that interrupts the domestic season, takes place in a nation with barely any football culture and, worst of all, represents their sport being sold down the river. In this case to the tiny emirate of Qatar.

There is little about the Qatar regime’s handling of the migrant workers who built the stadiums – read ITV’s Jonathan Swain’s viewpoint on page 11 – or its treatment of minorities that fits with how our football culture likes to see itself, which is about inclusion, diversity and fair play. But, as our columnist Simon Barnes says on page 14, this isn’t the first time Fifa has awarded the hosting of the World Cup to an authoritarian regime with a bad human rights record – and you can’t blame football for the wrongs in Qatar. Football is the world’s game. It belongs to us all.

With that view in mind, television is clearing the schedules for four weeks of international football – and we’re here to help you get the most out of the coverage. On our wall chart you will find a broadcast guide to all the matches, and on page 16 a dream team of BBC and ITV pundits marks your card for the month ahead.

Will England go one better than when they reached the semi-final in 2018? Will Wales make the knock-out stages in their first World Cup since 1958? Will Qatar 2022 end up as more than a footnote in footballing history?

If the football isn’t for you, don’t despair. We have a fascinating interview with the late great Richard Harris’s son Jared on growing up with his famous father; David Baddiel writes about TV’s sometimes troubled relationship with portraying Jews and Jewishness; and Lucy Worsley tells us about Agatha Christie’s life, as seen through six of her favourite characters.