Brazilians already ruing missed WC opportunity

FIFA upholds Ukraine racism ban

SAO PAULO, Nov 27, (Agencies): With six months to go before the World Cup kicks off, the stadiums are almost ready, the 32 qualifiers are booking their flights and the tickets are selling faster than ever.

The dream of every football fan — a World Cup in the spiritual home of the beautiful game — is about to come true.

But while supporters all over the world eagerly await the prospect, many Brazilians are a little less enthusiastic.

They see next year’s tournament as a missed opportunity with the promised infrastructure either not being built or thrown up late and over budget.

“I think the matches broadcast to the world will be a great show and there will be no problems,” said Marcelo Proni, an academic at the University of Campinas who studies preparations for major sporting events.

“But the public money being spent on readying the country could be better spent elsewhere. Brazilians will be delighted to host the World Cup but that will be because of the party, not because money is being spent wisely.”

Brazil was awarded the right to host the finals in 2007 but there was a delay of almost two years before a decision was made on which cities would host the 64 games and then a higher-than-usual 12 were selected.

The country’s sports minister said the 12 venues would be built “without a cent of public money” and the president vowed Brazil would seize the opportuni- ty to build and modernise roads, airports, bus lanes, metros, hotels and communications systems which are vital to keep the developing nation growing.

However, those promises have not been kept.

Although stadiums are being built largely with private money — six were delivered for the Confederations Cup warm-up event in June and another six have been promised by the end of December — much of the cash has come from government banks who lend to construction companies at low interest with big tax breaks.

Also: GENEVA: FIFA on Wednesday said they had thrown out an appeal by Ukraine against a stadium ban imposed in the wake of racist incidents during their 2014 World Cup qualifying campaign.

In a statement, global football’s governing body said an appeal hearing upheld in its entirety a decision handed down by the FIFA disciplinary body on September 27.

As a result, fans will be banned from Ukraine’s first home game when the 2018 World Cup qualifiers kick off in 2016.