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Sean Williams
Monday, June 01, 2009
NASSAU, Bahamas - The world governing body of football, FIFA, yesterday announced the 12 cities that will host the 2014 World Cup to be staged in Brazil.
Following a FIFA Executive Committee meeting at the Atlantis Hotel here where the 59th FIFA Congress is being held, president Joseph 'Sepp' Blatter announced the 12 successful candidates from a pool of 17.
They are Manuas, Fortaleza, Natal, Recife, Brasilia, Salvador, Cuiaba, Belo Horizonte, Curitiba, Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo and Porto Alegre.
Blatter, in the middle of his third four-year term as president of sport's most powerful body, said the five cities that were not chosen - Florianopolis, Goiania, Campo Grande, Rio Branco and Belem - should not feel eliminated.
"We just don't have any more space but those 12 cities, and you know in football, like in your life, you learn to win and you learn to lose and I think that there are no losers here because the World Cup is in Brazil and all Brazilians and those cities in all the regions should be happy to have this World Cup..." said Blatter.
Brazil - the record five-time world champions - hosted their only other World Cup Finals back in 1950, when they finished second to South American neighbours Uruguay, and Blatter, a Swiss, explained that the five cities that didn't make the cut "for technical reasons" will be incorporated into the overall World Cup 2014 programme.
"We will do everything for all the regions that have not been considered, as there will be activities of FIFA...yes we will have these fan zones as we have had in Japan/South Korea, Germany and they will be in South Africa, so in all the big cities there will be these fan zones because the World Cup is for the people of Brazil, not only for the host cities," said Blatter, as he addressed journalists.
The FIFA boss, who has served the body for many years, where he functioned in the top administrative post of general secretary before ascending to the presidency, gave assurances that logistics won't be a problem as the host cities are spread across distant points of the vast South American nation.
"Everybody is accustomed to travel and by 2014 it will be better and the distances in Brazil and this continent will become shorter and shorter," he said.
The 12 cities were chosen "following extensive analysis" by FIFA and the Local Organising Committee of the 17 candidate cities.
The 59th FIFA Congress, coming to the Caribbean for the first time, will officially start tomorrow with a glitzy opening ceremony and then the main session Wednesday at the spectacular Atlantis Hotel located on Bahamas' famous Paradise island.
Monday, June 01, 2009
NASSAU, Bahamas - The world governing body of football, FIFA, yesterday announced the 12 cities that will host the 2014 World Cup to be staged in Brazil.
Following a FIFA Executive Committee meeting at the Atlantis Hotel here where the 59th FIFA Congress is being held, president Joseph 'Sepp' Blatter announced the 12 successful candidates from a pool of 17.
They are Manuas, Fortaleza, Natal, Recife, Brasilia, Salvador, Cuiaba, Belo Horizonte, Curitiba, Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo and Porto Alegre.
Blatter, in the middle of his third four-year term as president of sport's most powerful body, said the five cities that were not chosen - Florianopolis, Goiania, Campo Grande, Rio Branco and Belem - should not feel eliminated.
"We just don't have any more space but those 12 cities, and you know in football, like in your life, you learn to win and you learn to lose and I think that there are no losers here because the World Cup is in Brazil and all Brazilians and those cities in all the regions should be happy to have this World Cup..." said Blatter.
Brazil - the record five-time world champions - hosted their only other World Cup Finals back in 1950, when they finished second to South American neighbours Uruguay, and Blatter, a Swiss, explained that the five cities that didn't make the cut "for technical reasons" will be incorporated into the overall World Cup 2014 programme.
"We will do everything for all the regions that have not been considered, as there will be activities of FIFA...yes we will have these fan zones as we have had in Japan/South Korea, Germany and they will be in South Africa, so in all the big cities there will be these fan zones because the World Cup is for the people of Brazil, not only for the host cities," said Blatter, as he addressed journalists.
The FIFA boss, who has served the body for many years, where he functioned in the top administrative post of general secretary before ascending to the presidency, gave assurances that logistics won't be a problem as the host cities are spread across distant points of the vast South American nation.
"Everybody is accustomed to travel and by 2014 it will be better and the distances in Brazil and this continent will become shorter and shorter," he said.
The 12 cities were chosen "following extensive analysis" by FIFA and the Local Organising Committee of the 17 candidate cities.
The 59th FIFA Congress, coming to the Caribbean for the first time, will officially start tomorrow with a glitzy opening ceremony and then the main session Wednesday at the spectacular Atlantis Hotel located on Bahamas' famous Paradise island.
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