Beer will be sold at the 12 venues of the 2014 Soccer World Cup finals, FIFA general-secretary Jerome Valcke said on Wednesday as he attempted to close all further discussion on a controversial issue in Brazil.
Voting on the bill for the World Cup Law has been held up over differences between the tournament hosts and world soccer’s governing body, notably on the sale of alcoholic drinks at sports venues, which is banned in Brazil.
The bill was scheduled to have been voted on by the Brazilian chamber of deputies at the end of last year, but it has been delayed by several issues, including the sale of beer, with FIFA demanding protection of sponsors’ trademarks.
“Alcoholic drinks are part of the FIFA World Cup, so we’re going to have them. Excuse me if I sound a bit arrogant, but that’s something we won’t negotiate,” Valcke said.
the right
“The fact that we have the right to sell beer has to be a part of the [World Cup] law,” he told the foreign press corps in an interview in Rio de Janeiro, where he was scheduled to have a meeting with the World Cup local organizing committee yesterday.
Alcoholic drinks have been banned in Brazil’s stadiums since 2003 as part of the Supporters’ Statutes, aimed at preventing violence among hardcore fans at soccer matches.
Alexandre Padilha, Minister of Health in Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff’s government, and other members of parliament linked to health matters have put pressure on the Brazilian Congress to maintain the ban in the World Cup Law.
sponsor
The US brewer Budweiser is one of FIFA’s longest-standing sponsors and it belongs to the world’s biggest beer-selling group, Anheuser-Busch InBev.
“Our partner here is in fact a Brazilian company,” Valcke said, referring to local brewer AmBev, which is part of the brewing group.
Another point of discord between the Brazilian government and FIFA is half-price tickets for students and senior citizens, which is the rule in Brazil.
special tickets
Valcke said this issue would be resolved by creating a special category of tickets worth US$25 each, with 300,000 available for the group phase to several groups of people, including students and the elderly.
However, he said there need-ed to be strict controls of the people who qualified for these tickets.
“It’s unfair if a person who can afford a category one ticket buys a category four ticket. We must guarantee this won’t happen, because apparently it’s very easy to obtain a student card here,” Valcke said.
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