FIFA on Wednesday confirmed that the tournament would begin on June 12 with the final set for July 13. FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke last month delivered a scathing attack on Brazil’s preparations for the World Cup, insisting that “there is a lot of work to deliver”. However, Blatter painted a rosier picture as he spoke in Rio de Janeiro ahead of Saturday’s qualifying draw.
“The Government, the minister of sport and the President of Brazil, Dilma Rousseff, are all confident and we at FIFA are also confident and we have the trust that this World Cup will be a success,” he said, according to Reuters. “It is a country not only of football but of happiness, but the reality is that there is still some work to be done. But I am sure, with trust and confidence, Brazil and FIFA together will deliver an exceptional World Cup in 2014.”
Meanwhile, Blatter denied accusations from Mohamed bin Hammam that he ran FIFA like a dictatorship, but refused to comment on the ongoing corruption case involving the Qatari. Bin Hammam is planning to appeal against the life ban handed out by FIFA’s Ethics Committee for allegedly offering bribes to Caribbean Football Union (CFU) officials in return for their backing in his bid for the FIFA presidency. In an interview at the weekend he claimed Blatter was a dictator who silenced anyone that opposed the way he ran FIFA.
Blatter responded: “I am not alone, I am not a dictator as has been said, I am not alone, I work with my executive committee, with my administration, and with a lot of advisors. They know what it means to have transparency on one side, and anti-corruption on the other side. Do not forget that in FIFA we have 300 million people who work directly in football and in 300 million you cannot have only good people. But I will not make any comments on the decisions of the Ethics Committee, and the follow-up by the media, and I ask you to understand my situation and let FIFA work in compliance with the strong demand of the FIFA Congress to go forward.”
