FIFA urges Brazil to pass World Cup bill
Reuters - Monday 16 January 2012, 21:35
Brazil had been demanding
too much in negotiating the conditions for hosting the 2014
World Cup but a legal dispute should be settled within days,
FIFA said on Monday.
"Maybe because you have already won the World Cup five times
you think you can ask and ask and ask," FIFA General Secretary
Jerome Valcke told reporters after meeting with Brazil's new
Sports Minister Aldo Rebelo.
Valcke said he hoped to resolve final differences over
discounted tickets at a meeting in Rio de Janeiro on Thursday.
Brazil has resisted changing its laws banning alcohol in
stadiums and providing discounted tickets for people over 65 and
FIFA has become frustrated because the World Cup bill which sets
the rules for the event has been held up for months in Congress.
Football's world ruling body says Brazil's rules would raise
the cost of the event and restrict its ability to protect
sponsors ' trademarks and brands but Valcke said it was
time to end the negotiations.
"The World Cup is not just a law, the World Cup is 12
cities, 12 stadiums, 12 airports. Let's move on," he said.
The dispute has added to worries about Brazil's ability to
organise the global sports event, compounded by delays in
building a dozen stadiums and corruption allegations against the
head of its football confederation, Ricardo Teixeira.
Teixeira was absent from Valcke's side in
Brasilia, raising speculation that he has been sidelined after
former Brazil striker Ronaldo joined the tournament's organising
committee.
But Valcke said Teixeira would chair Thursday's organising
committee meeting in Rio, which could also involve former
Brazilian striker Romario who is now a Congressman and outspoken
critic of FIFA's requests.
"I am optimistic," said Ronaldo. "We will show that we are
not only good players but also good organisers and we will hold
the best World Cup of all time," said the 35-year-old former
World Cup winner.
Ronaldo said the organising committee was looking for a
third member to join him and Teixeira on its management board.
Rebelo said the law on the hosting of the World Cup should
be passed by Congress at the beginning of March.
FIFA 2014 World Cup sponsors include Adidas,
Coca-Cola, Sony, Anheuser-Busch InBev's
Budweiser unit and McDonald's and Visa.
Valcke said he would return to Brazil every two months to
visit each of the 12 cities in which World Cup matches will be
played "to make sure work is going on."
Last Thursday, the Brazilian government released a report
that said seven of the 12 stadiums being built would be ready by
the end of 2012, in time for the Confederations Cup, a dress
rehearsal for the World Cup to be held in 2013.
Renovation of Rio's Maracana stadium, where the World Cup
final will be played, is not due to be completed until February
2013, the report said.
Sao Paulo stadium, which will host the
opening match in 2014, is only 20 percent completed and will not
be ready until December, 2013.