Dueling with FIFA
June 12, 2014
While violent protests marred the opening day of the World Cup in Sao Paulo on Thursday, Brazilian and international football fans have geared up for the big event. In recent days, Rio's cars have been increasingly sporting yellow and green flags and Brazil stickers.
And in front of Rio's Maracana stadium a fan from Argentina, Brazil's arch rival, recently disguised himself as Maradona and used his act to collect money to finance his stay in Brazil for the World Cup.
Even Ricardo Ferreira from the "Alzirao" fan festival is hopeful: "We don’t have the World Cup blues. We’re in a mood to party and we’ll be rooting for the Brazilian team." He added that people should demand political change during the upcoming presidential elections in October and not during the World Cup.
"We don’t want to have anything to do with FIFA. Our festival is a 100 percent Brazilian," said Ricardo Ferreira, a trader from Rio de Janeiro. Since 1978, Ferreira has been organizing the street festival "Alzirao" during each World Cup. This year, however, FIFA sent him a bill worth around $10,000 for broadcasting rights for the games on a public screen.
It was only after the mayor of Rio, Eduardo Paes, intervened that FIFA withdrew its demand. What especially irks Ferreira is that the famous fan-driven spectacle in Rio served as the model for official FIFA's public viewing fan festivals that have become the norm since the 2006 World Cup held in Germany.
"FIFA didn't pay us anything for the use of our intellectual property," Ferreira said. Adding jokingly, "The organization obviously has a weakness for voluntary involvement."
Lots of pride, not enough money
The feeling is echoed by the waiters serving drinks at the legendary Maracana Stadium in Rio. "Of course it’s great to say on your resume that you’ve once worked during a World Cup," Valdo Cardoso said. "But considering the scale of the event, FIFA pays really little."
Cardoso has already decided that once his job at the Maracana is done, he will demand more pay from his next employer.
Relations between Brazil and FIFA nosedived in March 2012 when FIFA General Secretary Jerome Valcke said, in light of the delays and glitches in the building of the stadiums, that Brazil need "a kick up the backside." It was only after a public apology by Valcke that Brazil agreed to speak with the FIFA official again.
FIFA’s reputation in tatters?
But FIFA's high expectations about the quality of stadiums in Brazil have now become the butt of further jokes in Brazil after recent allegations of corruption linked to Qatar's 2022 World Cup bid.
"When it comes to the issue of corruption, the FIFA appears to violate the same quality standards that it demands from others. And it comes closer to the way politics is done here," an article in Brazilian daily "Folha de Sao Paulo" said.
Since the revelations of corruption allegations against FIFA, no protestor has been calling for schools and hospitals of "FIFA quality," the article added. The mark of quality ascribed to FIFA is simply a "mistake," it said.
FIFA's worsening reputation was also the reason that the 54 UEFA members at the congress in Sao Paulo questioned the re-election of President Blatter next year.
Cultural row in Salvador
FIFA's plunging popularity in Brazil took another hit recently after a row in Salvador, a city in the northeast that is to host World Cup games. FIFA had barred street vendors of "acaraje," an iconic black-eyed pea fritter split and stuffed with caramelized onions and shrimp, from selling the snack near World Cup venues. The governing body said the hot oil used in the fritter could cause injuries to visitors.
It's not the first clash of its kind between FIFA and Brazil's local traditions in the run-up to the World Cup. But in this particular case, there were allegations that FIFA was bowing to corporate sponsors such as McDonald’s. It was only after strong protests and the intervention of the state government that FIFA finally allowed the sale of acaraje, which was declared a cultural heritage of Brazil in 2005.