When Brazil were handed the ‘honour’ of hosting the 2014 World Cup by FIFA in October 2008, there were scenes of jubilation all across the country. ‘The World Cup Is Ours’ was the cry from the vast majority. The world’s biggest sporting event was returning after 64 years.
A massive opportunity was born.
Optimism soared and the legacy for the tournament was clear: attracting investments, improving stadiums, creating sustainable urban transport and expanding hotel and airport infrastructure.
Wishful thinking.
Just a few years on, Brazilians have discovered a completely different, but all-too-familiar reality. Stadiums are lagging behind construction deadlines and have increased their projected budgets significantly by dipping into public funds.
Urban mobility and airport infrastructure projects have either fallen short or been abandoned. Authorities have openly admitted these will be obstacles come 2014.
The usual suspects: preparation (or lack thereof) and political corruption are to blame.
Brazil had known unofficially that it would host the 2014 World Cup since 2003, as there were no rival bids from the other South American nations. The CBF (Brazilian FA) then decided to play to the gallery – and more importantly to government authorities.
CBF President Ricardo Teixeira transferred the responsibility of selecting the cities to FIFA, in order to keep all the parties appeased. This process was drawn-out over a two-year period, in which valuable construction time was lost.
Manaus and Cuiabá were selected as hosts, with not so much as a national third division club from these cities. What purpose would these stadiums serve beyond 2014? The prospect of white elephants, paid for by the public purse looms.
Cities that made a lot more sense for footballing and legacy reasons were ignored. Goiânia and Belém were handed ‘pity’ friendly matches by the CBF as a consolation prize for missing out on the main event – all the more indicative of the governing body’s true intentions and its strategy of using political favours.
The local taxpayer, in need of far more vital everyday necessities, like dependable transport is instead footing the bill for over-the-budget stadiums, which for the most part will be used sparingly.
In the bigger footballing centres like Rio and Sao Paulo there are also links to political meddling.
Sao Paulo FC presented a viable, affordable plan for renovating their Morumbi stadium, which was most importantly to be privately funded. This was scrapped by the CBF, in favour of building an entirely new, publicly-financed stadium for city rivals Corinthians.
It is no coincidence that Sao Paulo president Juvenal Juvencio has long been a political adversary of Teixeira and the CBF, while Corinthians’ president at the time, Andres Sanchez was very closely tied to the organisation, even briefly occupying a supervisor role in the past two years.
In Rio meanwhile, the Maracana – Brazil’s footballing temple – has already been renovated twice in the last 15 years. Its latest revamp has now reached a budget around £370.5m, tripling its initial projected amount.
Another lump that is hard to swallow for the average citizen.
Even more calamitous are the airport and urban mobility situations in and between the country’s two biggest cities. The terminals are crammed, and there is non-existent public transport from the airports to the city centres.
Additionally, the severe lack of alternative transport to unclog the air traffic in a country of continental proportions is a massive sore spot. The fast train linking Rio and Sao Paulo has become a ‘blueprint relic’ and it doesn’t appear that the expansion of the cities’ metro services will be ready in time.
All of these problems could have been avoided with decent preparation. Rio hosted the Pan-American Games in 2007 and was given the 2016 Olympics as well; so sufficient notice had been given.
Yet politicians are now resorting to stop-gap solutions to salvage the event. These ‘last minute jobs’ raise the costs and the taxpayer is the one that ultimately suffers.
The tragedy in all of this is that the spectacle is almost sure to be a resounding success with tourists and the local population.
The lack of a lasting legacy, reflected best through an improved standard of living for its population is the biggest shame. An event that held so much potential and promise having been sapped of this because of political nit picking.
Some things never change in Brazil, and if this continues to go unnoticed, the 2016 Games in Rio are following a similar path…the path to a massively squandered opportunity.
The Beautiful Game 