MANCHESTER: The World Cup kicks off on Thursday (Jun 11) as a celebration of goals, drama and global fandom, but it is also expected to carry a climate cost more than double that of Qatar 2022, throwing a harsh spotlight on the environmental price of football's expanding showpiece. The tournament's enlarged footprint will see 48 teams and venues scattered across North America and an assessment published last week by global carbon accounting platform Greenly estimates it could generate 7.8