Brazil chases FIFA over World Cup structures

Brazilian state prosecutors are seeking to recover almost $100m from football's global governing body FIFA which was spent on temporary structures at venues for next year's World Cup, AFP reports citing media. The Brazilian government wants to recover 130 million reais ($60m) from FIFA and also pursue the organization for an additional 34 million reais dating back to last June's Confederations Cup, the World Cup dress rehearsal, reports said. Brazil's argument is that any temporary facility will not be of post-Cup benefit to the Brazilian people so the state should not have to foot the bill. FIFA's view is that it does not own the stadiums and is therefore not liable for associated facilities either, reports said. The Folha de Sao Paulo newspaper meanwhile quoted the local World Cup organising committee as saying that "no stadium can host a global event without adaptations" owing to the number of fans, volunteers and world media who will attend the games across the 12 venues as the event returns to Brazil for the first time since 1950. The Confederations Cup saw major public protests against the multibillion cost of staging the event. Protestors insist the money would have been better spent on poor infrastructure, education and health and have criticised the building of new stadiums in cities such as Manaus and Natal which have no sizeable local team.