May 12 – Having spent months tirelessly trying to get Brazil’s preparations up to speed, FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke says with future World Cups he should perhaps take more of a back seat after having to deal with so much pressure.
Valcke has been to-ing and fro-ing between Zurich and Brazil and at times has appeared exasperated at the negative headlines some of his comments have received as the World Cup hosts continue to fall behind schedule.
“I cannot be the one who is always criticizing the organization of the country, the one who says that things are not working, while nobody tries to understand if I’m right or wrong, or if what I say is true or not,” Valcke told reporters.
“Anytime I say something, I’m the bad one, not a single time have they said that I may be right. You have the impression that it’s just so easy to create problems and so easy to put me in conflict with the country.
“I have to rethink my role, avoid doing what I’ve done over the last two World Cups and have a different interaction with the local organizing committee to avoid having to fly there every two months.
“(But) I’m not done with the World Cup,” he said looking ahead to the 2018 tournament in Russia and 2022 in Qatar. “I’m secretary general and one of my jobs is to make sure the World Cup is organised.”
Valcke said that Brazil’s three levels of government made the country “a difficult one to work in” and that in future FIFA might look at how they organise World Cup in terms of greater commitment from the host nation.
“It should at least be part of the bidding process that there are commitments from the host country on a number of points,” he said.
“Maybe, it cannot just be a decision from the state president, or a minister, but it should be supported by the Senate, Congress, or national assembly. When we are talking about the World Cup, it should be supported by the country, so there is no more potential conflict.”
Valcke, who returns to Brazil on May 18, bemoaned the tensions experienced in trying to push Brazil towards halting delays and completing necessary infrastructure.
“Since in Brazil, there are some politicians who are opposed to the World Cup, and we have experienced a sort of hell especially because you have three political levels in Brazil and then elections change everything so we found we were not necessarily discussing things with the same people . . . it was difficult having to repeat ourselves all the time.”
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