Teixeira makes himself scarce as FIFA's Valcke heads to Brazil

By Andrew Warshaw

January 15 – Under fire Brazilian powerbroker Ricardo Teixeira (pictured left) will be conspicuous by his absence when FIFA general secretary Jérôme Valcke flies to Brazil today for his latest bi-monthly series of World Cup 2014 meetings.

Valcke will be accompanied by Brazilian footballing icon Ronaldo (pictured right with Teixeira), who is now playing a key role in the Organising Committee, as well as the new Brazilian Minister of Sports Aldo Rebelo, when he continues his inspection of prospective World Cup cities, this time Fortaleza and Salvador.

Teixeira, recently hospitalised suffering from abdominal pain and understood to be still too unwell to carry out his role as head of Brazil 2014, has been keeping a low profile in recent weeks amid speculation that he is being marginalised in favour of Ronaldo, top scorer in World Cup history and recently appointed on to the local Organising Committee’s management Board to deal with mounting concerns over legal issues and infrastructure delays.

Teixeira has been under increasing pressure surrounding a fraud investigation against him at home and the possibility of FIFA releasing files relating the collapse of their former marketing partner ISL, which are believed to incriminate the Brazil 2014 chief.

He is also said to have a frosty relationship both with Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff and, crucially, Valcke who reportedly put pressure on Teixeira to relinquish his role at the forefront of 2014 organisation.

Teixeira has been blamed for the slow pace of preparations but asked by insideworldfootball to comment on why he is not involved in Valcke’s upcoming visit, a short FIFA statement said merely that Teixeira “is not taking part in this trip”.

Meanwhile, Valcke (pictured right) said: “I am very pleased that the Sports Minister and Ronaldo are accompanying us on these important visits.

“Their participation underlines our joint commitment to make the 2014 FIFA World Cup a success.

“The host cities and states are key stakeholders as they provide the basic key infrastructure.”

Valcke especially wants to clear up – and fast – disagreements over the sale of alcohol at the tournament, discounted ticket prices for certain categories and other government guarantees enshrined in the so-called World Cup 2014 bill.

“Naturally the 2014 Bill will be the foundation of Brazil’s successful hosting; therefore I will also use my time in Brazil for numerous meetings with various stakeholders to explain particular issues together face-to-face and make sure that we can close this chapter by March,” said Valcke.

“The clock is ticking ever faster.”

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