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When Brazil won the right to host the 2014 World Cup a friend looked at me and through his big grin declared: ‘Let the robbing begin!’
He was not wrong.
It’s the same story elsewhere, as the big construction companies take advantage.
To cite one quote in my story:
“This is all just a chance for the big construction firms to get their hands in the till,” said Christopher Gaffney, a visiting professor at the graduate school of architecture and urban planning at the Fluminense Federal University. “Society is not going to benefit in any way.”
I think Brazil thoroughly deserves the right to host the World Cup. As the only team to win the trophy five times and as the home of many of the world’s greatest players, FIFA had a certain duty to take the tournament to the game’s spiritual home.
I truly believe that the tournament will be a great success. Fans will come from all over the world and be treated well by Brazilians. They will encounter a great climate in a beautiful country, populated by welcoming locals, and they will have an unforgettable experience.
But then they will leave and Brazilians will be left with the hangover. Few new roads. Few new airports. Not enough new hotels. Arenas that will be white elephants. Inadequate infrastructure. All at a cost many times more than it was supposed to cost.
It was all so predictable.
Any hopes the resignation of Ricardo Teixeira as the head of the Brazilian Football Confederation might lead to a wholescale change of the old guard in charge of South American football have been well and truly dashed this week.
First, Teixeira was replaced by 79-year old Jose Maria Marin, a one-time politician appointed by Brazil’s military dictators and who earlier this year was caught on camera pilfering a young lad’s medal at a football tournament.
Then, yesterday, Teixeira was replaced on FIFA’s executive committee by Marco Polo del Nero, the 71-year old head of the Paulista Football Federation. (See my Reuters story here.)
Del Nero will sit at FIFA’s top table alongside Nicolas Leoz, the 83-year old head of Conmebol, the South American Football Confederation, and Julio Grondona, 80, the man who has presided over Argentine football since 1979.
None of this bodes well for the future of South American football. The Jurassic age continues….
It’s hard to feel even the slightest bit sympathy with FIFA and people like Jerome Valcke but today is one such remarkable day.
Valcke finally came out and said the obvious last night and told Brazil that its World Cup preparations were a mess and that it needed a ‘kick up the backside” to get it going again and ready for the Confederations Cup next year and the World Cup in 2014.
“I am sorry to say, but things are not working in Brazil,” Valcke said. “You have to push yourself, kick your backside and just deliver this World Cup.”
The Brazilians took the hump at his straight talking and Sports Minister Aldo Rebelo announced the host nation would not longer recognise Valcke as FIFA’s point man for the tournament.
The tiny bit of sympathy I have for Valcke is tempered by the fact that he should have been saying these things years ago, as he tacitly admitted yesterday. He and Blatter have long known things weren’t going to schedule but they molly coddled the Brazilians so as not to hurt their feelings.
For example, just six weeks ago Valcke wrapped up a five-day trip to Brazil saying he was “filled with great impressions and pleased with the promising outcome of his trip.”
“This commitment to stage the best FIFA World Cup ever, the high level of planning and details to ensure not only an integrated and well developed operation for the event but a sustainable social, infrastructural and environment legacy was one of the key lessons of this trip,” he said.
He must have known such statements were rubbish (and if he didn’t he shouldn’t be in the job).
Anyone paying attention to the World Cup preparations has long been aware that Brazil isn’t doing what it should or quickly enough. Stadiums are behind schedule, are being built largely with public money, and airports, hotels and other legacy infrastructure are clearly not going to be ready on time or sufficient.
FIFA are now paying the price for taking so long to be honest.
It’s sad they have let things deteriorate to this stage. What’s sadder still is that the important issues are being ignored while the protagonists swap insults.
The World Cup is still two years away and here’s a small but symbolic example of why people are worried the organisation will be a disaster (in addition to the delays in stadium construction, the turmoil at the CBF and the woefully insufficient airports and infrastructure.)
It’s a good idea done poorly, from the clunky graphics, to the unclear layout, to the dodgy English.
Brazil’s Tourism Ministry has a reported annual budget of 180 million reais (around $100 million) to spend on enticing visitors to come to Brazil.
Would it really be that difficult to hire a native English speaker to do the translations? Or do they really think Fortaleza has a “lively night and Brasilia has a “unique sky?”
Socrates, in 1986
A few years ago, Time magazine had me call Socrates to ask him if he would pen a short piece on Kaka.
The magazine’s editors – perhaps the same ones who suggested last month that Lionel Messi was better than Pele – had chosen Kaka as one of the 100 most influential people on the planet and they wanted Socrates to write an eulogy.
Socrates had one question for me. Is this about Kaka the footballer or Kaka the man, he asked. Kaka, the man, I replied.
To my delight, Socrates dismissed the idea out of hand. He had great respect for Kaka with a ball at his feet but not with a bible in his hand.
Time got Casey Keller to write the piece instead.
I thought of this last night when I saw that Neymar had described Ricardo Teixeira as “an excellent president” of the CBF. The young Santos star made the comments on the same day that Edmundo declared that he “loved” Ricardo Teixeira and a few days after Ronaldo and Bebeto both lauded Teixeira’s work.
(See the Neymar comments in Portuguese here, and details of Ronaldo and Bebeto’s nonsense here in my Reuters piece from last week.)
Socrates was not just a brilliant footballer. He was an intelligent and highly principled man who fought hard so that players like Neymar could have more of a voice, both inside and outside the game.
He must be rolling in his grave.
Former World Cup winning striker Bebeto yesterday joined Ronaldo on the committee that is organising the 2014 World Cup.
(Read more details in my Reuters piece here.)
Why he was chosen for the job was not explained. What is clear is that there are now two former players with little organising experience preparing Brazil to host one of the biggest sporting events on the globe. It’s an odd decision to put it mildly.
The selection of a first time state deputy to one of football’s big jobs is also interesting for the way it pits Bebeto against his former strike partner Romario.
The deadly duo led Brazil to World Cup glory in 1994 and were famous for this celebration (above right), after Bebeto scored in the epic quarter final win over Holland. Bebeto made the famous gesture to celebrate the birth of his daughter, born shortly before the match.
(Here’s the official list of all Bebeto’s games and goals for the national side.)
Now, the two men will be at odds. Bebeto backed Ricardo Teixeira, the controversial CBF chief who hired him, while Romario has been one of Teixeira’s most outspoken critics.
Romario blames Teixeira for the terrible way Brazil has prepared for the tournament. Stadiums were slow to get started and are over budget and infrastructure, particularly airports, is a mess.
It will be interesting to see if the two strikers, not to mention Ronaldo, who appears dreadfully unaware politically, will clash in their new roles.
Watch this space.
It’s been 17 years, almost to the day, since I last wrote for Reuters.
When I left Port-au-Prince in February 1995 to go to Mexico City I cut my ties with the news agency and moved on.
Today I saw my name under the Reuters logo again, this time from Brazil. I will be writing about sports, and particularly football, in the months and I hope years to come.
My first piece today was about Ricardo Teixeira, a man I’ve written about many times before. The lead promises more news on the CBF president very soon.
The president of the Brazilian Football Confederation and the man charged with organising the 2014 World Cup was reportedly close to resigning on Wednesday after a local newspaper implicated him in another corruption scandal.
Ricardo Teixeira, who has headed the CBF for 22 years, could step down as early as Thursday, O Globo newspaper reported.
The news came on the day another newspaper, Folha de S.Paulo, reported that a company linked to the football boss overcharged the organisers of a November 2008 friendly match between Brazil and Portugal in Brazil’s capital, Brasilia.
For more on Ricardo Teixeira see this earlier post.
Ricardo Teixeira doesn’t give many interviews but when he does, they’re worth waiting for.
The all-powerful head of the Brazilian Football Confederation and the man in charge of organizing the next World Cup allowed Piauí magazine to accompany him to Switzerland last month for the election of FIFA’s president.
The resulting profile is one of the best pieces of journalism I’ve read in years.
Teixeira hates the press but reporter Daniela Pinheiro put her considerable charm to work and simply let him talk.
He couldn’t resist and her piece has a dozen delicious anecdotes and quotes from the man who could well succeed Sepp Blatter as the most powerful man in football.
Teixeira, who has been head of the CBF since 1989, has resolved not to run for president again when his current term ends in 2015.
The article closes with this quote (my translation):
“In 2014, I can get up to whatever nastiness I want. The most excessive, unthinkable, most Machiavellian nastiness. (Like) not giving out credentials, (like) restricting access, (like) changing kick off times. And you know what will happen if I do? Nothing. And you know why? Because I’ll be gone in 2015. And that’s that.”
The piece is now available online to subscribers and in English too. It is a must for anyone interested in football or great journalism.
The jury is still out on whether Romário will be an MP who uses his fame for positive means or whether he’s one more celebrity politician content to rest on his laurels and pick up a fat pay check.
But O Baixinho, or “the little one,” as he is known here in Brazil, had some interesting things to say about Brazil’s World Cup preparations today.
In an interview with the Folha de S. Paulo newspaper, the former Vasco da Gama, Barcelona and PSV Eindhoven star moved way from earlier statements declaring that the 2014 tournament would be the best ever staged.
He said that while Brazil was still capable of making a decent job of hosting the competition, it will take divine intervention for Brazil to prepare a truly great Cup.
“If (Jesus) comes back to earth sometime in the next three years, then it’ll be possible,” he said.
Romário also criticised Ricardo Teixeira, the all powerful head of the Brazilian Football Confederation, and suggested the 64-year old hand over the tournament organisation to a younger man.
“It isn’t good for him, maybe even because of his age,” he said. “I’d put someone else in there, like they did with Henrique Meirelles for the Olympics.”
Romário also said he would pressure Teixeira to come before Congress and explain accusations made by the English FA that he solicited bribes in return for Brazil’s backing for the 2018 tournament.
“There’s a new allegation every day and it’s getting stranger and stranger,” he said. “If I was Ricardo Teixeira, I’d come here and respond. Even if he isn’t the one responsible for any irregularity or for the slowness in preparations, his is face of Brazil’s World Cup and he has to make himself available. If he doesn’t answer then I will not only not take my name of the list of deputies seeking a Congressional enquiry, I will work to get other deputies to put their names on it too.”
Romario’s statements comes as concern grows over the slowness of preparations, particularly at airports and at stadiums in São Paulo and Natal. The country’s airports are so bad that Pele called them “frightening.”
Meanwhile, pathetic infighting and personal vendettas led by Teixeira meant that São Paulo abandoned the idea of using the Morumbi to host the opening match and instead decided to host it at Corinthians new stadium. However, the stadium has yet to be built and costs have been estimated at over 1 billion reais.
Brazil waited a whole year before it even decided which cities would host the matches and it eventually chose more venues than is normal in a bid to curry favour with more mayors – and cynics would say earn more in kickbacks.
The former striker’s comments were made just days after the government tried to push through a law that would enable it to keep World Cup spending secret. It was widely seen as the clearest attempt so far to abrogate its past promises that it would not channel public funds into paying for games infrastructure. After a small outcry and Senate vows to veto the bill, the government withdrew it.
As a player, Romário was well known for his controversial and sometime witty statements. But he has been failry reserved since taking office as a Congressman earlier this year.
He clearly knows football – he scored close to 1000 goals in a career that spanned almost 20 years – and doors will open for him because of his standing in the game.
It’s nice to see him speaking out against Teixeira, the most Machiavellian of all Brazil’s politicos. I hope he continues to beat the drum for more transparency. I am not holding my breath.
FIFA has just announced that Rio de Janeiro will host the coveted International Broadcast Centre (IBC) during the 2014 World Cup.
With the so called Marvelous City already having confirmed it will host the final at the Maracanã, that means it has secured two of the three most important early goals.
The third big score, that of the opening match, was supposed to go to São Paulo, Brazil’s biggest and most important city. But delays and petty infighting mean it still doesn’t have a decent stadium and it probably won’t be ready to host the prestigious occasion.
The capital Brasilia is now the favourite but it could still go to Rio de Janeiro.
FIFA said Rio was chosen to host the IBC “for many reasons, including the quality of the infrastructure, the variety of accommodation and activities available in the city as well as its strongly expressed willingness to provide all possible support for the IBC and its users.”
“I can tell you it was a very difficult decision; all candidates were of great quality and showed huge commitment,” said FIFA Secretary General Jérôme Valcke, who chaired the meeting together with LOC President Ricardo Teixeira. “But unfortunately there can only be one selected host and we considered that the best overall for FIFA was Rio de Janeiro This IBC will be one of the most advanced information centres in the world for the months of June and July 2014. It is a vital component, linking the FIFA World Cup to the rest of the world and ensuring that people across the globe have the latest and best coverage of our beautiful game,”
The decision is an important economic one because it means that much of the media will be based there during the tournament. In South Africa last year, 179 broadcasters from more than 70 countries had on-site productions with 13,000 staff members in South Africa.
The centre will be at Riocentro on the outskirts of the city, which is a pain in the neck for visitors who want to actually experience the Rio of Copacabana and Ipanema, Christ the Redeemer and Sugarloaf.
Riocentro is about 22 miles away in a serious of cavernous exhibition rooms. Getting there through Rio’s horrendous traffic can take hours.
The draw for the qualifying rounds of the 2014 tournament takes place in Rio on July 30.
