Driving to the airport the other day, with the sweet rhythms of Brazilian World Cup commentators filling my every audible sense, I realized my taxi driver wasn´t just listening. With a towel covering a miniature television set up by his steering wheel, he left just enough room to see choppy versions of the match being played. Needless to say my first reaction was, "Hey, I want to watch too!" second to, "Wait, are your eyes on the road?" Brazilians adore futebol, and as cliche as the saying goes, it is like a religion. My taxi driver couldn´t just listen, he had to watch. I found this to be a common practice with many other drivers slyly glimpsing at their phones or gps with the match being played. I was given the comparison of how countries similar to Iran and Ecuador had celebrations as if they won the Copa when merely making the tournaments thirty two teams. For Brazilians this is an unquestionable fact; they will obviously be in the Copa, along with the high hope and great pressure for success. With futebol in Brazil held at a standard higher than most countries tallest skyscrapers, it´s no wonder it would be an honor for them to host the Copa do Mundo. However, around four weeks of exploring Brazil has given me many opportunities to gather Brazilian insight concerning their hosting position. And I've learnt taxi drivers certainly like to talk at any mention of the Copa, even when you can only comprehend and minimal amount of Portuguese.
Needless to say the Copa do Mundo is not simply a futebol tournament for thirty two countries. It is much, much more than that. It tends to cultivate repercussions politically, socially and economically to the host country. Specific to the economic interests, I will explain the stadium standard controversy. But, before we move on, let me explain who runs the World Cup and what their role is.
FIFA (Federation International de Football Association) declares itself as a non-government not for profit organization with the primary objective, "to improve the game of football constantly and promote it globally in the light of its unifying, educational, cultural, and humanitarian values, particularly through youth and development programs (FIFA website)". FIFA's role in framing and controlling the world of futebol is drenched in allegations towards ruthless and sometimes corrupt officials. FIFA claims transparency, when in reality a massive cloud of obvious business ventures guides their incredibly unaccountable decisions. FIFA's exemption from taxes exposes one of the countless ways it creates positive financial gains while host countries seemingly escape profits. An increase in FIFA's financial security ironically decreases their legitimacy and moral leadership among participating countries. When asked about the billions of dollars they have made, the president of FIFA replied identifying it as their "reserve fund". Indeed the Brazilian government has spent over eleven billion dollars getting ready for this hosting role.
Eleven billion dollars.
Much of this was spent upgrading, renovating and constructing brand new stadiums in twelve different cities across Brazil (Holzmeister, 2014). Brazil is in not shortage of stadiums, however FIFA enforces a particular quality of arena. A one hundred and twenty five page document specifying the criterion of stadium standards can easily be found on FIFA's website. "It is questionable how necessary it is to adapt this European model to Brazil... considering the heavy amounts of tax-payer money that will be used in cities with no professional soccer whatsoever, or those without the sufficient demand to justify new stadiums (Holzmeister, 2014)". For example, Manaus (or the Jungle City) in the amazon, had to ship supplies down the river as it is almost unreachable by vehicle. New electrical and power systems were constructed for the city as the increase in population during the Copa do Mundo has the potential to override existing ones.
Appropriately named the 'FIFA Standard' has created a great magnitude of controversy and ridicule among protesters. The Brazilian governments willingness to spend absurd amounts of money on too many stadiums in the first place has generated this clever suggestion from protesters: "What about FIFA Standard hospitals and schools?"
Why is the government meeting this standard for sport infrastructures, but not in public investment for local health, education and transportation?
One local passionately expressed to me, "the only thing FIFA leaves is a big physical hole for our country to fill afterwards". As much as Brazilians love futebol they are not blind to the injustices created by hosting. Brazilians undeniably want the sport, but not its tendency to amplify inequality and poor expenditure. Therefore hosting the Copa do Mundo places Brazil on the world stage. Millions of eyes are glued to the experience and thousands more, like myself, are here in Brazil. Is there any better opportunity to expose FIFA than now?
On the first day of class these following questions were theorized and my curiosity builds with each game: if Brazil wins the Copa do Mundo will it 'justify' hosting and undermine protests? If Brazil does poorly, will it create an even greater tension in the injustices experienced? Or it will be seen as bitter protests for not succeeding once again in their own country?
Holzmeister, Antonio (2014). A brief history of soccer stadiums in Brazil. Soccer & Society, 15(1), 65-80.
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