Sitting in his office in a federal building in Brasilia, Aldo Rebelo is a busy man. As Brazil's minister of sports, Rebelo is the point person for the government to oversee the preparations for the Fifa World Cup 2014. With less than a month before the first game will kick off in Sao Paulo on June 12, Rebelo, a leader of the Communist Party of Brazil, is working overtime to ensure that the Home of Football is able to organize the biggest sporting spectacle without any problems. In an interview with Shobhan Saxena at his office in Brasilia, the minister spoke about the problems, challenges and promises of hosting the world cup. Excerpts from the exclusive interview:
Brazilian President DilmaRousseff has promised this tournament to be a "Cup of Cups"". Nowwe are just weeks away from the World Cup. How well prepared is the country to host the event?
I believe that when Brazil was chosen to host the World Cup 2014, the organizers knew that we were quite capable of organising it. Brazil has hosted a World Cup earlier as well, in 1950. We prepared for that Cup within a record time and with great success. It would have been perfect but for the defeat in the final against Uruguay. Brazil is the sixth or seventh largest economy in the world. It is now a country with a sophisticated infrastructure and a network of airports, ports and metro cities which are used to stage big events and receive tourists from around the world. In Brazil, we already have big football stadiums. For a long time, we had the greatest football stadium, Maracana. We have built new stadiums, reformed some old ones, expanded some airports, improved the urban transportation in some cities and improved the security to protect the public, delegations and tourists. I think, therefore, that we will have a World Cup up that will meet the expectations of the world and Brazil, within the conditions that the country can offer.
But we keep hearing about delays in stadiums. There have been deaths of workers in some host cities. There have also been protests and strikes in response to mishaps in stadiums. Isn't this a big cause of concern?
In most stadiums, there have been no accidents. There have been accidents only in Brasilia, Manaus and Sao Paulo. Other stadiums were constructed without any mishaps. On account of accidents, work was suspended or stalled for some time and this delayed the delivery of some of these stadiums, especially in Sao Paulo. Anyway, of the 12 stadiums, six had already been delivered in 2013 for the Confederations Cup. Of the remaining six, five have already held events and games to test lighting, hydraulic and electrical equipment. The only stadium that had not made a test event is the Corinthians (Sao Paulo), but even that happened over the weekend.
On the eve of the World Cup draw, you had admitted that there are cases of violence in Brazilian cities. How well is the government prepared to tackle this problem as hundreds of thousands of foreigners would be coming over?
At that time, I spoke about a particular form of violence -- the violence of common crime against individuals. Brazil is free from other kinds of violence that is produced by national, religious and ethnic resentments, and which produced some of thetragedies in sporting events like the Munich Olympics, where athletes were kidnapped and murdered without the German security been able to prevent it. Then there was the Atlanta Olympics in the US, where there was an attack inside the Olympic Park and it caused fatalities. There was a big concern in Russia just before the last Winter Olympics because of a series bombings in a city. Brazil has a low-level risk for this type of violence but has a high level of risk for common street crime. We are reinforcing our security to prevent such violence and to better protect the public, tourists and delegations. I think the tourists will be safe in Brazil.
In recent months, there have been some demonstrations against the World Cup. More are being planned during the tournament. Do you think it will affect the World Cup?
The number of protests and protesters has declined quite substantially. Today, we have some small protests as people do not want rioting, vandalism and assaults that have marked the protests in Brazil in recent months. The Brazilian Constitution protects peaceful demonstrations. The same Constitution prohibits vandalism or violence. The demonstrations are treated according to the law. Peaceful demonstrationsare allowed, but violent ones are prohibited. But I think,theWorld Cup will happen in a party-like atmosphere and not in the middle of demonstrations and protests.
What's causing these demonstrations? Do you think there is a deliberate effort by some to destabilize the preparations and hosting of the World Cup?
In today's world, there are many vested interests and hidden agendas. We can't prove that there is a manipulation to undermine the country or harm the government. But we have to be prepared for everything. I don't think it's possible to have demonstrations that can destabilize the country or the government. In fact, it were violent protests that inhibited the peaceful rallies. People moved away from streets. People want a better life. They want to improve the health, education, transport and security, but violent protests do not help these causes. So, I think, people walked away from the protests because of violencethey even became much smaller in size.
As an emerging country, how much will Brazil gain from hosting the World Cup?
The World Cup is not only the biggest sporting event on the planet, it is also a great business opportunity. It is also a chance for a country to demonstrate its capacity to hold big events. The World Cup and the Olympics are two such events. There are studies by private consulting firms which say that the complete cycle of the World Cup in Brazil can generate up to 3.6 million jobs. A study done by a firm for Ernst &Young, says that the country's economy will have an added growth of 0.4 % per year until at least 2019 as a result of the World Cup. Moreover, there will be gains from taxes, with sporting and non-sporting tourism taking place across the country. This will happen not only in the World Cup host cities but also in training centers where various teams will stay before and during the tournament. Brazil will gain a lot economically with the hosting of the World Cup and then the Olympics in 2016.
What would be the long-term benefits for the country, especially for football and other sports, as a result of such a huge investments in this event?
We're creating sports infrastructure not just for football. After the world cup, we will have modern stadiums in major Brazilian cities. The brand value of football clubs will be valued more with the new arenas as they will have more income. Football will have greater contribution in the economy and the Brazilian football will contribute more to the world football economy. Today, we are exporting players. We want to export sports services too. But in addition, the government is investing in the country's sports infrastructure for sport education. We are building Olympic facilities in federal universities. We are providing sporting facilities to thousands of schools. With these great events, Brazil is educating the public about the importance of physical activity and sports activity as health practices. This is a long-term gain.
The event is also an opportunity for Brazil to showcase its soft-power. What are you doing to make sure that the tournament shows the best of Brazil and not the worst?
We have 8.5 million square miles of land, 16,000 km of border with 10 different countries, but our borders are completely pacified. We have 8,000 km of coastline, without a single rock or island being claimed by anyone else. We are a country with 200 million people speaking the same language, with an almost absolute ethnic unity, a mixed population without any national or religious hatred or resentment. We are country that despises racism and religious intolerance. The great civilizing asset of Brazil is tolerance, co-existence and fusion. We are all somehow the European, African and indigenous at the same time. We don't reject any of these identities. But at the same time, we are also a country with severe disabilities. We're still a very unequal country, although we have in recent years adopted the most ambitious program of direct cash transfer to the poor. We are a country with deficient infrastructure in education and health, but these deficiencies can be corrected within a relatively short time. So, we do not need to make an effort to show what we have. They are clearly visible. We will not make any effort to hide our weaknesses. We will make efforts to correct them and overcome them while enjoying the World Cup and the Olympics.
India had qualified for the 1950 World Cup in Brazil, but could not make it as they could not afford shoes. As fellow-BRICS members, Brazil can help India in improving its football standard. Are there any plans for such cooperation?
Unfortunately, no important steps have been taken for such cooperation. It would be a very good idea for Brazil and India to cooperate in the field of sports, with football as an important reference. But we still have not progressed in this field. But I have a lot of interest in doing so. Any such cooperation would be a very good thing for football and for India and Brazil.
What are Brazil's chances of winning the World Cup at home?
Brazil are the favourites to win this World Cup because we have a very good team. We have high quality players like Neymar. In Felipe Scolari, we have a very experienced coach who is able to organize and motivate the players. And we have a unique advantage over other countries -- the support of our passionate fans. This is an extra motivation for our players. For this reason, Brazil is the favourite, though big teams like Argentina, Germany, Uruguay, France, Spain, England andItalyalso play football of great quality.
