FIFA slams Brazil’s slow pace of preparation for the 2014 World Cup

Friday, June 24th 2011 - 22:23 UTC

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Secretary general Jerome Valcke said Maracana is not a “World Cup stadium”

Brazil's slow pace of preparation for the 2014 World Cup has come under attack from FIFA general secretary Jerome Valcke. Stadium development plus work on airports and the transport system are lagging well behind schedule.

Valcke told the inaugural Inside World Football Forum in Moscow: “There is a lot of work to deliver. We don't have stadiums, we don't have airports, we don't have a national transportation system in place and we are one month away from the preliminary draw.”

He added: “The Maracana is definitely not currently a World Cup stadium and that's why it's closed. It will be ready at the last minute, a few months maybe, even a few weeks before the tournament if they don't speed up the process.

”In Sao Paulo, the main city in Brazil, they will not even be able to play the Confederations Cup in 2013 because the stadium will not be ready.“

Valcke suggested the main aim in Brazil was to win the World Cup rather than organise a successful tournament.

”In South Africa the main goal was to show the world that Africa could organise a World Cup,“ said Valcke. ”In Brazil, in a way the main issue is to win it. Otherwise they will talk about failure.”

Categories: Economy, Politics, Tourism, Brazil, International.

Tags: 2014 FIFA World Cup, Brazil, Jerome Valcke, Maracana stadium.

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MarkWhelan
How can Brasil be so far behind in the set up for the world cup?
I don't believe it!
As far as I know ALL Politicals and their friends have been getting their cut of the public money on time.
Oh you mean the buildings and that.............. Not to worry PT will be out of power by then and so someone else will be to blame.
Where is the worry?
Where is there a problem?
It is what the thinking person in Brasil expected from Lula, Dilma and their chequebook mates.
Jun 25th, 2011 - 01:36 am 0
GeoffWard
Couldn't have said it better -
- except that PT will be in power for much, much longer than you think.
Jun 25th, 2011 - 11:04 pm 0

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