By Mark Baber
August 19 – FIFA yesterday completed an inspection of facilities for the 2015 Women’s World Cup and has given Canada a clean bill of health, although questions over the artificial pitches to be used will not be answered until next year. Meanwhile, Secretary General Jerome Valcke begins yet another inspection visit to Brazil today, to check preparations for the 2014 World Cup.
FIFA officials and national organising committee members wrapped up a tour of venues for the 2015 Women’s World Cup, including stadiums in Ottawa, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Toronto and Vancouver, following on from April’s visits to Montreal and Moncton.
Mustapha Fahmy, FIFA’s competitions director, said: “You have all of the facilities here in Canada. We are not asking for many big changes in amenities.”
Regarding Ottawa’s stadium, which is yet to be built, Fahmy said: “We have seen the drawings, and it’s going to be a nice product once finished.”
The use of artificial surfaces has proved controversial, but inspections of the pitches will not be completed until a year before the tournament kicks off.
The 2015 tournament will feature 24 teams for the first time and organisers have to reckon with the vast distances between different venues and creating a consistency for the games across six different cities and five time zones.
National organising committee CEO Peter Montopoli said: “To a certain extent, we want to take advantage of the multicultural communities in the respective communities. Certainly, we want to take advantage of the ethnic communities in each one of the areas. But we feel very comfortable that every one of the other 23 (non-Canadian) countries will be supported… and hopefully the United States also.”
Meanwhile, FIFA Secretary General Jerome Valcke is visiting Sao Paulo, Curitiba and Manaus to check on preparations for the men’s World Cup and is expected to address recent concerns including hotel prices for fans, stadium construction and transport infrastructure ahead of the arrival of an expected 600,000 international visitors.
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