World Cup Archives - Page 91 of 170 - Inside World Football

Rousseff counters Blatter saying Brazil will host World Cup of World Cups

Dilma Rousseff

By Andrew Warshaw
January 7 – Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff has hit back at FIFA President Sepp Blatter’s attack on her country’s lack of sufficient World Cup preparation by insisting it will stage the best tournament in history. Last weekend Blatter expressed FIFA’s growing concern in no uncertain terms, chiding Brazil for being further behind any World Cup organiser he had ever known at this stage in the proceedings.

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Brazil has left World Cup preparations too late, says Blatter

Sepp Blatter

By Andrew Warshaw
January 6 – FIFA president Sepp Blatter has revealed the full extent of Brazil’s lack of World Cup preparations with an unprecedented blast at this year’s hosts. As FIFA’s December 31 deadline for the 12 World Cup stadiums to be ready came and went with half of them still behind schedule, Blatter criticised the organisers by declaring no host had ever been as far behind at this stage in his 38 years with football’s world governing body.

2014 News

Brasilia leak will not hold up the 2014 party, says Secopa

Mane Garrincha Stadium

December 27 – Brazil’s World Cup preparations were dampened with another infrastructural setback with the revelation that the 73,000-capacity national stadium in Brasilia has a leaking roof less than eight months after it was completed.

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Blame games: Qatar labour issues and a never-ending supply of workers

Qatar construction 2

By Paul Nicholson
December 23 – Human rights abuses in Qatar have made the Gulf state the whipping boy of the western media. If there was no World Cup planned for 2022 in Qatar then probably the rest of the world might not be so interested – perhaps a comment on the west as much as the Qataris. But the World Cup will be in Qatar and the world has been drawn into the story.

2014 News

Manaus stadium build set to re-start

arena amazonia manaus

December 19 – Construction is set to resume at the World Cup stadium in Manaus where a young worker recently fell to his death, prompting a walkout amid heightening safety fears six months ahead of the big kickoff.

Archive

FIFA calls in Aggreko for temporary broadcast power in Brazil

aggreko power unit

By David Owen
December 16 – FIFA has announced the appointment of Glasgow-based Aggreko as a branded licensee for the 2014 World Cup, in a move expected to save about $20 million in running costs for the 12 host-cities that will stage the tournament in Brazil next year.

Archive

Death of Manaus worker heaps further pressure on 2014 organisers

arena amazonia manaus

By Andrew Warshaw
December 16 – Brazil’s preparations for next year’s World Cup have been rocked by yet another fatality at a stadium being used for the tournament after a young construction worker fell to his death, heightening safety fears six months ahead of the big kickoff. The latest death came at the Manaus Arena in the Amazonian jungle region where England will meet Italy.

Archive

Al-Thawadi questions the Qatari doubters and prepares welcome for Garcia

Hassan al-Thawadi4

By Andrew Warshaw
December 11 – Three years after winning the bid to stage the 2022 World Cup by a landslide vote, Qatar’s organising chief is back on the offensive, rebuffing any suggestion that the Gulf state was guilty of any impropriety. Hassan Al-Thawadi, Secretary General, Qatar 2022 Supreme Committee, insists Qatar complied with FIFA regulations and that allegations to the contrary have “absolutely no basis”.

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Public policy makers urged to make sport a priority at Doha conference

Doah Goals forum

December 10 – Ministers of sport and representatives of sports bodies from over 20 countries have urged policy makers to change their outlook and give sport greater priority as a tool for change.

Archive

Brazilians promise safety and security for 2014 but stats make horrific reading

Brazilian fan2

By Andrew Warshaw
December 10 – FIFA and World Cup organisers have been quick to re-assure an anxious public that the shocking scenes of violence at a Brazilian championship game at the weekend, screened across the world, were far removed from what can be expected next summer.

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Sports politicos descend on Doha to discuss G20 sports ‘agenda’

Doha Goals forum

December 9 – Sports ministers from across the world were convening in Qatar today to explore the idea of creating a G20 sports grouping to mirror the economic equivalent. Sports officials from a raft of nations including South Africa, Brazil, Mexico and Italy were taking part in the summit as part of the three-day Doha Goals conference.

Archive

Mystery Pot X gets the 2014 World Cup ball rolling

World Cup draw

By Paul Nicholson
December 6 – “There is a bit of mystery about pot X,” said FIFA general secretary Jerome Valcke at the 2014 World Cup draw in Costa do Sauipe in Brazil. There was no mystery once the draw was made and the teams were allocated – the World Cup is without doubt underway.

2014 News

2014 World Cup Draw: Floaters and sinkers, days of reckoning begin here

World Cup draw

By Andrew Warshaw
December 6 – It’s being described as the European ‘floater; and it could have major ramifications at today’s eagerly awaited World Cup draw in Brazil. Under a new formula designed to ensure an even geographical spread, before the main draw even takes place one of the nine unseeded European teams from Pot Four will be drawn at random by organisers and switched to Pot Two alongside Ecuador, Chile and the five African contenders,

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Blatter calls for ‘calm’ while the Qatar issues are worked through

Blatter Brazil Draw press conference

By Andrew Warshaw
December 6 – FIFA president Sepp Blatter has appealed to Qatar’s critics to “calm down” over questioning its suitability to stage the 2022 World Cup but insists his organisation will not shirk from its responsibilities to monitor the issue of workers’ rights in the Gulf state which has caused such widespread alarm.

2014 News

Sao Paulo stadium finish put back to mid-April – FIFA pray, LOC keeps faith

Sao Paulo stadium

By Andrew Warshaw
December 6 – The stadium hosting the opening match of next year’s World Cup will not be ready until a mere eight weeks before the start of the tournament. Twenty-four hours after the Brazilian government promised that the Sao Paolo venue damaged when two crane workers died in a recent accident would be finished by February, FIFA president Sepp Blatter revealed that it would in fact not be completed until “April 14th or 15th”.