FIFA warn Brazil against stadium delays

FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke has spoken of the importance of delivering functioning stadia on time as the 2014 World Cup edges closer.

With the countdown to the event in Brazil into its final 500 days, Valcke was part of a group of FIFA officials who met with organisers to receive technical information about the preparation of the Estadio Nacional for the FIFA Confederations Cup this year.

The FIFA secretary was particularly concerned with the telecommunications setups in the stadiums, saying ‘without telecommunication there is no World Cup’.

“We should never forget that the problem is not the stadium at the end, because when the stadium is finished telecommunication has to work and they have to install all of the systems,” Valcke said.

“That’s why we are pushing to have stadiums delivered on time, because there is a lot of work to do after the delivery of the stadium.

“You cannot organise a World Cup without telecommunications, not just because our world is about telecommunication.

“It’s just that the World Cup is for the world, as you can imagine. It’s not only for Brazil, it’s for the rest of the world and we have to bring the pictures.

“Half-a-billion people will watch the opening game, more than a billion people will watch the final and an average of 350 to 400 million per game so without telecommunication there is no World Cup.

“We are working to make sure that they (the stadiums) will be ready, if not in 2013 at least in the early 2014.”