While many of us are excited at the prospect of a World Cup in Brazil we should take a step back for a moment and consider the fact that the game is going through a rough patch at the moment.
Perhaps not so much the game, more those that are running it and make such decisions for everyone involved and who want to be involved. Football prints it’s own money and it is often forgetten that there is a real world outside of it’s bubble.
The decision to award the World Cup to Brazil was, in football circles, a popular one. In hindsight it may not have been quite as popular. This is the real world, not the one that football tends to conduct its business in it seems so often.
They were the last remaining applicant to host the 2014 event in South America after competitors Colombia pulled out. It’s the first time that it has not alternated between Europe and another continent with Russia the next to host in 2018.
Brazil is the largest national economy in Latin America but just like any other nation, it has it’s problems. The seventh largest economy in the world struggles to shake off the corruption tag which it loses around $41 billion a year to. A large proportion of successful firms in the country blame this as the reason why they are prevented from being much stronger in world economy.
There has been a lot of criticism from Brazilians on why the country are hosting such a costly event and throwing money at it while more spending is required on health, education and transport in the country. Just recently there has been a 10,000 protestor strong march to the Corinthians stadium organised by a group for the homeless.
There have been riots in Sao Paulo and Rio by protestors who marched against the cost of the tournament with strikes and protests across the country. They claim that the money should be better spent on social projects and housing.
Politics and sports should never mix. But they do. Just look at the decision to award the last World Cup to South Africa. The governing body FIFA were intent to introduce the games biggest event to the continent of Africa. Forget the social issues. Allow the country to spend big on hosting one of the biggest sporting events in the world.
It seems a common theme of late when you look at the decision and political contempt to award the Olympics to Beijing, China a few years back. A lot of questions were asked of that as well and should a country with many ethical issues be permitted to hold such an event. In hindsight, that particular event went well and without as much as a hitch.
Take a look at Greece before them. The home of the Olympics but the state of the country now makes you wonder if it is all worth it when the Government ends up seeking a loan from the European Union. The Olympics alone was not the sole reason Greece headed towards financial ruin but it was a contributing factor.
Similar can be said of Brazil this summer. The introduction of new stadia and infrastructure has had it’s problems and it is still a race against time to make sure everything is finished before the big kick off.
The Confederations Cup held in 2013 was a test and that didn’t go well. On the field of course, everything was very rosy indeed but there were larger scale rioting and unrest, particularly towards FIFA for agreeing to stage the World Cup Fianls in Brazil.
This World Cup has to go without a hitch. The present day means that there is much more emphasis on events with the likes of so many immediate outlets and social networks to use to keep in touch with everything going on.
With betting scandals and the contraversial decision to award the 2022 World Cup to Qatar without even thinking about the implications, clouds are gathering over the heads of the governing body.
If there are any scandals in Brazil then football will end up in a place where it may never return from in many peoples eyes, if indeed it is not there already.
