In spite of conflicts with government, FIFA guarantees Cup in Brazil

The measures proposed by the Federal Cup Law caused a conflict between the federal government and FIFA, letting the Local Organization Committee (COL) in the middle of this battle.

According to "Folha de S. Paulo" newspaper, representatives of the top soccer management entity believe that the law disagrees with the items already guaranteed by ex-President Lula, especially in terms of the management of ticket sales, transmissions and sponsors.

The dissatisfaction of the international soccer confederation surprised the government members, as they had already warned the executive managers headed by Joseph Blatter on the eventual changes to be made effective by the law. It must be voted in the House of Representatives and by the Senate.

In spite of the lack of official information, the eventual transfer of the World Cup event from Brazil to another country has already been commented in FIFA’s ‘backstage’. The USA would be an option. But, the press relations staff at FIFA denied this threat in behalf of the entity.

The change of the host country is permitted in case of lack of fulfillment of the clauses in the World Cup Hosting Agreement, which also sets forth the deadline to mid-2012 in order that a law is created to guarantee the soccer confederation earnings.

Although this is a rumor of threat, the angry exists within FIFA, as Dilma Rousseff did not keep the guarantees previously signed by Lula. The General Cup Law disagrees form the requirements which the ex-President compromised with, in seven items.

According to the law, the TV stations that do not hold the rights are entitled to exhibit only 3% of the time of each match and 30 seconds of the World Cup-related events. FIFA wants autonomy in the negotiation for transmission rights.

The maintenance of half-priced tickets for elderly people and the reduction of penalties for the undue utilization of the World Cup trademarks and piracy were other factors that place Ricardo Teixeira, President of COL in an uncomfortable situation.

With no direct access to President Dilma, Teixeira asked for the assistance of the Minister of Sports, Orlando Silva Jr., to attempt solving the conflict. There is the possibility of COL be obliged to reimburse FIFA due to contract breach.

To refute the arguments of the Brazilian government, Joseph Blatter is now criticizing the infrastructure works in the host cities, and sent a letter of complaint to Dilma.