Brazil president defends World Cup preparations

AFP/Brasilia

Brazil has been racing to finish stadiums and deal with a wave of protests against the cost of the event - more than $11bn.

Overnight, as the Iranian and Croatian teams arrived, joining Australia as the first of the 31 teams seeking to prevent Brazil winning a sixth trophy, Rousseff partly blamed FIFA for the spiralling bill but said the money spent would leave a positive legacy.

The leftist leader, who plans to seek re-election in October, said FIFA, the sport’s global governing body, had assured Brazil that host stadiums would be built with private money. But the government eventually realised private-sector investment would not even cover “half a stadium,” and provided most of the financing itself, Rousseff told journalists at a dinner at the presidential residence in Brasilia.

She said she would advise future host countries to “be very careful about the ‘responsibility matrix’” they sign with FIFA.

But she insisted that the vast majority of public spending related to the tournament was “for Brazil” over the long-term and not limited to the World Cup.

She said hosting the tournament had spurred many cities to undertake badly needed public transport projects - though she acknowledged many of them would not be completed before the World Cup.

The Brazilian government has faced a wave of protests over the money it is spending on the tournament, which critics say should have been used to address urgent needs in education, health care and transport.

A year ago, a million protesters flooded the streets during the Confederations Cup, a World Cup dress rehearsal. The protests turned violent at times, casting a shadow over the tournament and raising fears of a repeat this year. More recent protests have been on a smaller scale, though still occasionally violent.

Rousseff said protests would be allowed during the World Cup as long as they were peaceful and did not interfere with the event. “We fully guarantee people’s security,” she said.

Brazil is still scrambling to finish five of the 12 host stadiums, including Sao Paulo’s Corinthians Arena, which will host the opening match but still has not had all its seats installed.

Organisers have shelved much of the other infrastructure they had originally promised, from roadworks to a high-speed train to subway and monorail lines. Meanwhile, fans in Sao Paulo jostled for tickets after FIFA put a final 180,000 on sale online and at ticketing centres in the host cities.

Supporters turned up in the early hours at Sao Paulo but were disappointed to learn from officials that no tickets remained for matches either in Sao Paulo or Rio or for either semi-final.