News from all over the world are trying to put Brazil, its corruption, insecurity, and riots,

as main reasons to not hold the 2014 World Cup nor the 2016 Olympics in this country.
In one of the latest issues, the French magazine France Football had an article with the
title World Fear for Brazil stating that damaged by an economic and social crisis,
Brazil is far away to be the paradise imagined by FIFA to organize a World Cup. With
less than 5 months left before the World Cup, Brazil is a terrible agony fountain. These
statements are not far from reality. Brazil has high corruption indexes, an endemic
problem that goes from the people to the government. Taxes in Brazil are even much
higher than in France, but the public services are one of the worst; similar to countries
like Congo. Due the governmental and social mess that Brazil has, the country has
failed to finish on time the required infrastructure to host the World Cup this upcoming
June.
As today, many of the stadiums are still in a 60-70% work progress, and none of the
transportation services that were going to be changed have been initiated. Brazilian
president, Dilma Rousseff, declared that she will build a high speed train, similar to the
French Train Grande Vitesse (TGV), which would connect 4 host cities. In 2009, 13
billion Euros were approved for this train; enough money to build a TGV from Paris to
Cabul, Afghanistan. Nonetheless, not a single inch of the Brazilian TGV was ever built.
About the stadiums construction, Brazil was given 7 years to prepare for the World Cup,
the country with the most time given to prepare in history. There are 12 stadiums in total
and each one of them cost around half billion Euros, but with the construction delays,
the cost has triplicate. Unfortunately, 100% of the money comes out of the Brazilian
pocket. Everything has been financed with public resources, compared to France where
the private sector made all the investment. It seems that Brazil is far from their own
motto Orem e progresso (Order and progress). Many opinions, such as those from the
Brazilian riots, will say that since FIFA invited Brazil to host the World Cup, they should
be responsible for the preparation of the host country. Unfortunately this is not the case.
Years ago, the Brazilian president, Dilma Rousseff, proposed to FIFA to host the
World Cup, stating that they will create the best World Cup of all time, even better than
Korea-Japan, USA, France, or Germany. The only thought of this, should had raised
concerns in the FIFA president, Joseph Blatter, to believe that a developing country
would be able to achieve something like this. This has been the biggest strategic
mistake in the institute history. Believing that the World Cup will help the Brazilian
people to increase their economic growth, FIFA decided to give the honor to Brazil.
Nevertheless, every single country that has hosted worldwide macro-events, such as
the World Cup and the Olympics, has felt the economic lost these type of events bring.
Organizations like FIFA or the International Olympic Committee (IOC) are non-for-
profit organizations under Swiss laws. (Really? Non-for-profit?) In the FIFA website
(FIFA.com), the organization shows the total income received in the last four year
period, 2007-2010, achieved a revenue rising to USD 4,189 million. Of course, 93 per
cent of FIFAs income was accounted for by event-related revenue. The biggest event
of them all proved the biggest fundraiser: the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa made
around USD 3,500 million, accounting for 84 per cent of FIFAs total revenue. Thanks to
their non-for-profit status, FIFA doesnt pay taxes at the World Cup host countries and
not a single cent for the infrastructure construction is paid by FIFA. At the end, host
countries spend millions in infrastructure, transportations, and hospitality, and they get
nothing back from the organization. The only direct revenue comes from the tourist
activities, which is less than 1 per cent of the total income that FIFA receives.
Of course there are different other reasons to host a macro-event like this than just
the economic aspect. Almost anybody around the world has heard about Brazil because
of its culture and soccer. Looking it from the social and cultural perspective, the World
Cup means everything for the Brazilian people. All of the Latin American countries have
a passion for soccer since they are children. I experienced myself growing in Mexico
that we play, learn, and live around the soccer culture and its importance. The love and
passion for the ball is transmitted from generation to generation. Its not different for
Brazilians. Actually, from the 6 million tickets that have been sold for this macro-event,
almost 80 per cent who asked for tickets are Brazilians. Not only this, but also Brazil is
well known for its partying, dancing, and happy people. Rio de Janeiro is the country
with the most international visits in the Southern Hemisphere. The World Cup gives to
any country the opportunity to show itself to the World and possibly generate more
tourist visits and create stronger political bonds with other countries. Nonetheless, if
there is no preparation for an event like this, if what people see when they get to Brazil
is just chaos, the social repercussions will be even worse to the economic view. Not
only the host country looks bad in front of the international community, but FIFA as well
gets the negative criticism for not being able to have a correct administration.
Imagine the scenario, a tourist arrives to Brazil, happy and expecting to attend to the
greatest soccer event, but when he/she arrives to Rio de Janeiro the tourist gets a delay
on its flight because the airport is not able to hold all the World Cup visitors. After 30
minutes on air, he/she is able to land on Brazil, but then the traffic of the city makes
him/her difficult to arrive and takes about 2 hours for him/her to get to the hotel. Adding
possible riots and bad administration, he/she will have a bad perception of Brazil and
take it back to his/her country. This would not be the only problem, but media from
around the world will be there, live and colorful, ready to transmit and show Brazil to the
whole World.
So, if there are so many problems, Brazil needs to regulate the laws and public
security in order to have a successful World Cup, right? Well, Brazil is definitely taking
action on the subject. The Congress and the President passed a bill approved by both
that gave rights to FIFA of changing the judicial system as convenient. The Cup Law
dictates that any person that is found selling and/or buying illegal FIFA merchandise
(piracy) has to spend a sentence no minimum than 3 years. Usually, under Brazilian
laws, a person will only need to be jailed for no longer than 3 months. Beyond that, FIFA
changed the laws for riots and the use of cops in order to maintain the social peace.
Many Brazilians are against these law changes. The Brazilian Sports Director and
famous Brazilian soccer star, Romario, stated FIFA is the real president of our country.
FIFA comes to our country and sets up a state within a state. The Institutional Protest
Coordinator also appeals against FIFA rules, saying that 20 years of intensive social
work are going to be in risk if the Brazilian government gets rid of simple rights like the
Consumer Defense Code. It is understandable that FIFA is trying to protect their
merchandise and receive the right revenue for its event, but will it really make a
difference? Not a single company wants their merchandise and tickets being sold
overpriced in the black market and receving nothing out of it. Although anyone has the
right to protect their products, it is unfair to ask for something when you are giving
nothing back. It is just a matter of thought, would these laws really change the attitudes
and actions of millions of Brazilians to stop selling and buying from the black market? Of
course not. Placing new laws and people in jail will only solve the problem temporarily
(from here until the end of the World Cup) on the surface, but never get to the root.
The problem does not rely on the black market, the social unrest, or the stadiums
tardiness. Its roots go deeper, they go into the population and the corrupted government.
The riots in many Brazilian cities ask for justice and social development, investment in
fundamental public services like transportation, health system, and education. They ask
to organizations like FIFA to stop supporting the corrupted Brazilian government,
because the only people that will be losing are the millions of hard working of Brazilians
that will receive nothing in change.
Brazil, as many other latin american countries, is filled with joy and passion for soccer.
Latin people will always celebrate about the good and bad situations in life, but there is
a point where even the happiest can suffer injustice and desperation. No matter what
happens, I am sure that the 2014 World Cup will be a great event because of the
Brazilians, but it will also be an opportunity for the world to meet Brazil as how it is. FIFA
needs to understand that its international domain does not give the right to enter a
country and treat the citizens as criminals, much less when it gives no direct revenue to
the people. The World Cup is a time of happiness, passion, and joy, but we should not
let these emotions oversee the social unfairness that may be happening next to us.