By Paul Nicholson in Rio
June 16 – Everything happens late in Brazil, but it is happening. The Confederations Cup kicked off in Brasilia with the hosts knocking over Japan with ease. A result which, if not actually igniting frenetic fever for the event, has certainly woken the country from its pre-tournament slumber.
The Nigerians were the last team to arrive Sunday once the players had agreed to travel following the intervention of FIFA over the issue of bonus payments. And the power and water for the kitchens for the VIP and VVIP catering arrived on the day of the first match in Brasilia, allowing the special guests to be suitably fed and watered.
The show has started and the actors, props and audiences are falling into place, even if it does seem to be at a typically Brazilian relaxed pace.
Rio’s famous Copacabana beach is warming up too, though the heavy police presence around the Copacabana Palace hotel, where FIFA is headquartered and where the FT/IFA summit takes place on Monday, provided most of the beach-front light show, even if there wasn’t a great deal to police. World football’s heavy hitters are in town and there is no doubt that the hosts don’t want the party spoiled.
Brazilian protests against spending $3.3 billion on World Cup projects, and the use of teargas to break up a demonstration in Brasilia outside the stadium after protestors blocked the main access road for the second day, were certainly not dampening demand for tickets in Rio.
FIFA spent their media briefing at the Maracana on Sunday issuing multiple requests for fans to collect their tickets well in advance of kickoff. Whilst there were ticket collection locations throughout the city for the sold-out game, it was not possible to pick them up at the stadium itself. FIFA had re-iterated on Saturday that over 190,000 tickets were still to be collected from the various booths.
Despite the collection issue, ticket sales have already been a success story of the Confederations Cup, the traditional World Cup warm-up tournament. A total of 739,126 went on sale and six of the 16 games are sold out, with only a few thousand tickets left for the other fixtures. Even Oceania minnows Tahiti could be playing in full stadiums.
Sharing equal billing with the tournament on Monday is the afore-mentioned FT/IFA conference at the Copacabana Palace, with the day’s high-profile programme kicking off with an address from FIFA president Sepp Blatter.
Blatter can expect a warmer welcome than he received at the Confederations Cup opening ceremony in Brasilia where booing intensified after he admonished the crowd for not showing “fair play” and “respect” towards Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff.
Fair play will be one of the key issues on the various FT/IFA panels as Brazilian and South American football business cultures meet their European colleagues.
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