World Cup 2014

It's very likely that few people outside of Brazil are following, or even care much about, the details of the recent dust-up between the Brazilian government and FIFA (the International Federation of Association Football), but we're following it and it's not pretty. As the country chosen to host the next World Cup of soccer in 2014, Brazil has enjoyed a substantial boost to its self-image and expects to enjoy an even more substantial boost to its economy. But relations between Brazil and FIFA have been tense for some time now, and are worsening by the day. We're in the middle of a schoolyard fight with no adult supervisors in sight.

Just last week FIFA's general secretary, Jérôme Valcke, complained that Brazil needed to — in his original French words — "se donner un coup de pied aux fesses," or give itself a kick in the ass, to speed up the pace of its World Cup preparations. One could understand that as just a friendly "egging on" to urge Brazil to get those stadiums, hotels and airports built in time. But by the time the statement crossed the Atlantic, it had taken a turn. Brazil, it was said in Portuguese, needed to "levar um pontapé no traseiro," or get a kick in the ass. Gone was the reflexive, "give itself." Now Brazil needed to "get" a kick from some outside party to set it straight. An unfortunate translation.

Valcke believes he said this

Brazil believes he said this

Beer and soccer, a FIFA dream

But I'm not defending FIFA here, because however the statement was translated, the truth is that it had very little to do with whether or not Brazil is behind schedule. FIFA's own report last January congratulated Brazil for being within schedule. So what's going on? It's all about money. Big money. Huge profits. Greed. It has to do with the approval by the Brazilian Congress of something called the Lei Geral da Copa (the General World Cup Law). In one corner stands Brazil, a sovereign nation, with a federal law that prohibits the sale of alcoholic beverages in sports stadiums.  Brazil thinks that's a good law, and they want to keep it that way. In the opposing corner stands a big, powerful FIFA sponsor: Budweiser, the King of Beers. They want the law changed. Jérôme Valcke's job is to see that the Lei Geral da Copa is passed, releasing the sale of  beer, thereby insuring FIFA's continued profits.

Valcke commemorating. "Caipirinha anyone? 

Over the last six months the approval of this law met with strong resistance. Voting on it has been delayed several times. As of this writing, it does look as if it will squeak through the Brazilian Congress, with Brazil caving in to the beer interests. As for another Brazilian law in FIFA's greedy sights, that of half-price tickets for people over 60 years of age (which FIFA doesn't want) it looks as if Brazil will hold firm. I think it's all very unfortunate. Drunken drivers leaving a stadium after a game are infinitely more dangerous to the public than a few indignant old codgers.