Stung by criticism, Brazil to shun FIFA’S Valcke

RIO DE JANEIRO: Brazil Sports Minister Aldo Rebelo said on Saturday his country would no longer recognise FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke as a spokesman after he slammed the country’s faltering organisation of the 2014 World Cup.

“The government will no longer accept the secretary general as FIFA spokesman,” Rebelo told a press conference a day after Valcke went so far as to suggest the organisers needed a “kick up the backside”.

A furious Rebelo dubbed Valcke’s comments as “impertinent,” “inappropriate” and “offensive” and said it was difficult to see how they could serve to foster cooperation between Brazil and FIFA.

Rebelo said he intended to contact FIFA president Sepp Blatter and inform him the Brazilians did not wish to engage in further discussions with Valcke. “I hope he will understand,” the minister said, quoted by Brazilian media.

Asked if Valcke would be received were he to come to Brazil, Rebelo stated simply: “No.”

Valcke responded by dubbing Rebelo’s reaction “a bit puerile”.

In a FIFA statement he said: “If the result is that they no longer wish to speak to me and that I am no longer the person they wish to work with then I find that a little puerile.

“I will go to Brazil on March 12,” Valcke said in London.

FIFA have for months expressed varying degrees of concern over the extent to which preparations are on track for the first World Cup in Brazil since 1950. — AFP