By Andrew Warshaw
April 25 – FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke, never afraid to speak his mind when it comes to the problems involved with next year’s World Cup, has talked openly about the challenges of working with local hosts.
Valcke, who has at times had a fraught relationship with local organisers, said too much democracy can be a hindrance when organising a tournament of such magnitude. Valcke said part of the difficulty in organising the World Cup in a country like Brazil was the various levels of government.
“I will say something which is crazy, but less democracy is sometimes better for organising a World Cup,” Valcke told a World Cup symposium.
“The main fight we have (is) when we enter a country where the political structure is divided, as it is in Brazil, into three levels, the federal level, the state level and the city level.
“(There are) different people, different movements, different interests and it’s quite difficult to organise a World Cup in such conditions.”
Last year Valcke was forced to apologise over remarks about Brazil’s preparations. The apology came after Brazil delivered a letter signed by the country’s sports minister Aldo Rebelo to FIFA president, Sepp Blatter, officially announcing the country’s position not to welcome Valcke who has since made his peace with organisers as FIFA’s main trouble-shooter.
In a statement urging Brazil to speed up its World Cup preparations, Valcke had been quoted as saying: “You have to push yourself, kick your [backside].”
FIFA president Sepp Blatter told the same audience at this week’s symposium that he was relieved Argentina won the 1978 World Cup even though a military regime was in government.
“I remember my first World Cup where I was directly involved was the one in Argentina and I would say I was happy Argentina won,” Blatter said.
“This was a kind of reconciliation of the public, of the people of Argentina, with the system, the political system, the military system at the time.
“I think, and this is my approach on such a matter…I don’t know what could have happened if they had lost this final and they were close to losing because the Dutch they hit the post in the last minutes of the 90 minutes. The game and the world changed, that was my feeling at the time.”