David Beckham hopes to play in Brazil in 2014

December 18th, 2009

Several sites (like this and this) reported today that English player David Beckham declared that he has hopes to play the World Cup 2014 in Brazil.

Beckham was born in May 1975, and will be aged nearly 40 in 2014. Beckham is famous for several reasons, including: he is one of the greatest idols in English football and the player with most caps in the English team (currently, 115 appearances); he played in some of the most important teams in the world, including Manchester United, Real Madrid and Milan (from 2007 to 2010, he played in American team Galaxy, which paid him loads of money – speaking of which, Beckham was the highest player in world in 2004); his wife Victoria Beckham was a famous singer.

Beckham’s hopes are far from reality. As himself admitted, it is probably that he will not be with England in the South Africa Cup 2010.

Besides serving the English Team, Beckham has other reasons to hope to come to Brazil. Beckham has business in Rio Grande do Norte, a State in the Northeast of Brazil (which is also one of the host cities of the World Cup 2014): he plans to have a football academy in a luxury resort to be built in that State – see notes about the Beckham Academy and his visit to Brazil.

However he comes, Beckham will be welcomed in Brazil.

Posted in players | No Comments »

Brazilian airports not ready for 2014, Iata says

December 17th, 2009

The Brazilian airports are not ready for the World Cup 2014 and the Olympic Games 2016, says Giovanni Bisignani, director of Iata (International Air Transport Association); in an interview, asked whether the current aerial network could cope with the expected influx of visitors, the director sais: “No, today we would have serious troubles”.

airport-crisisBisignani declared still that, if the Brazilian Government decides to privatize existing airports or contract the building of new ones, laws should be passed to guarantee that all airports are ready and fully working in 2014: “the airports can’t be turned into money printing machines; there is no point in imposing fines to contractors, after all visitors are frustrated”.

In regards to this same matter, Bisignani said that Brazil should seek to avoid the problem in South Africa, where, to pay the dividends to the airport operators, the airfare taxes will experiment a raise of 133%.

In response to Iata, the Minister of Defense (which controls all air traffic in Brazil), Nelson Jobim, declared that “we indeed have problems in the airports, but we are working to have them ready by 2014″.

The Minister said that there is an over estimation of the increase in the number of visitors during the World Cup. According to the Minister, during the months of the Cup, the circulation of passengers will increase by a figure of 2,7 million, which represents only 10% more than the normal traffic.

What the Minister doesn’t seem to remember is that Brazilian passenger have no choice but to use – and continue using -  these airports (photo shows a day of chaos in Rio de Janeiro airport). Foreign visitors may or may not come back – and they can tell the World about the problems of Brazilian airports.

Tags: ,
Posted in infrastructure | No Comments »

Standards of hotels in Brazil

December 12th, 2009

Anyone who stays in the Copacabana Palace in Rio or the Hilton in São Paulo knows that those are five star hotels. But how about the other less known hotels?

five-star-hotelsToday, there are not official standards to rank hotels by quality of services, comfort levels, prices, etc. Classifications mentioned by the hotels or travel agencies are usually self-attributed.

The Minister of Tourism has just announced a project to establish norms and standards for the hotels in Brazil. Among the actions of the project, are included: creation of a reference hotel, against which other hotels may be compared; creation of a seal of quality; creation of a matrix of references, which shall be used to categorize hotels.

This matrix will separate hotels in classes (resorts, inns, ranch hotels, jungle hotels, historic, urban, bed and breakfast) and categories, (from one to five stars). The classification and categorization, as well as the issuing of seals of quality, will be made by Inmetro, the Brazilian Institute of Weights and Measures (see notice).

The General Law of Tourism, passed in 2008, already provided for a kind of standardization of tourism services. Among other measures, the law determined that all travel related establishments should be profiled and classified by the Government.

So far, little of the law was implemented though. It is the expected influx of (demanding) international tourists during the World Cup 2014 which is moving the Brazilian government to improve the quality of hotels in Brazil.

Tags:
Posted in business, travel | No Comments »

The bullet train

December 9th, 2009

One of the main transportation projects for the World Cup 2014 is the building of a bullet train linking São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, the two largest Brazilian cities. In Portuguese, the train is called Trem de Alta Velocidade (High Speed Train), or TAV; visit the official site of the High Speed Train.

high-speed-trainThe official TAV site still informs (wth endorsement of the Federal Government) that operations should start before 2014; however, there are strong doubts about that. There are several obstacles to the project, including technical, financial, political and environmental.

In 2007, it was estimated that the bidding process would be finished by 2008, and the trains would be running after seven years; today, it is growing stronger the opinion that the train won’t be ready before 2015.

The Government is looking for private partners to build the railway. On December 7th 2009, the federal Government announced the criteria to be used to select the partners; 70% of the scoring of bidders will be related to the necessity of official fundings (the smaller the necessity, the higher the score), and 30% will be related to the price of ticket to be charged from passengers (the cheaper the ticket, the higher the score).

Below, more information about the project.

bullet-train-map

The map above shows the route of the railways (click the map to enlarge). Stations in red are already confirmed in the project, stations in green are still under analysis.

One line would connect Campinas (one the largest cities in the State of São Paulo) and the airport of Viracopos (international airport) to the city of São Paulo. The other line would connect São Paulo to Rio de Janeiro, with intermediary stations in the airport of Guarulhos, São José dos Campos and Volta Redonda.

bullet-train

Trains will be 200 meters long. Estimated maximum speed is 300 km/h. Estimated travel times, leaving from Rio, are: to Volta Redonda, 34min; to São José dos Campos, 1h17min; to São Paulo, 1h33min; to Campinas, 2h08min. Currently, flying from São Paulo Rio takes about 1h50min, and driving takes about 5 hours.

There will be two categories of services: Express (between Campinas, São Paulo and Rio) and Regional (intermediary cities). Express trains would fit 458 people, in two classes; regional trains will fit 600 people, in one class.

Estimated prices for a ticket São Paulo – Rio are: R$ 150, economic class, off peak trips; R$ 200, economic class, peak time trips; R$ 250, executive class, off peak; R$ 325, executive class, peak time. Currently, a flight costs between R$ 180 (off peak) and R$ 400 (peak). Current exchange rate is US$ 1 = R$ 1.70.

bullet-train-brazil

About 61% of railways will run on surface, 21% across bridges and 18% underground.

bullet-train-costs

Estimated costs total R$ 34.6 billion (about US$ 20 billion). Most of the costs correspond to civil woks; indemnifications will take 11%; systems and equipments will take 10%, and the trains themselves will take 8%.

Tags: , ,
Posted in cities, infrastructure | No Comments »

The powers of CBF

December 7th, 2009

CBF stands for Confederação Brasileira de Futebol, or Brazilian Confederation of Football; CBF, a confederation, congregates all the football federations in Brazil.

Given the popularity and capillarity of football in Brazil, CBF is one of the most powerful organizations in the country; read the origins of the power of CBF. In Brazil (except for the year of 1987, read further below), there is no League, as in most European countries; in a League, the teams have the final word; in Brazil, CBF has it.

CBF is a private entity; the Government has no injunction on CBF. The official website of CBF is www.cbf.com.br, currently, CBF has some kind of agreement with globo.com, the largest media group in Brazil, whose banners are shown at the top of CBF homepage.

cbf-globo

CBF doesn’t have to open its accounts, neither to the Account Offices of the Government, nor to private owners.

And CBF makes a lot of money.

CBF collects all money earned by the Brazilan team. When Brazil won the Confederations Cup, FIFA paid a prize in cash, collected by CBF. When a big company signs a contract to sponsor the Brazilian team, CBF collects the money; last month, German carmaker Volskwagen announced that will sponsor Brazil until 2014, gaining the right of claiming to be a sponsor (VW is the biggest seller of cars in Brazil) and transporting the team in VW buses – the financial value was not disclosed, as CBF is not obliged to.

More. When Brazilian television chains pay to broadcast matches of Brazilian championships (from 1st to 3rd Division, men or women), it’s CBF who collects the money (and passes it along to the teams – read further belong about the Club of the 13). When Brazil makes friendly matches around the world (why would Brazil play against Oman in the end of November?), it’s CBF who negotiates how much Brazil will be paid, and eventually collects the money.

Of course, CBF has also duties. The most visible of all is to coordinate the activities of the Brazilian National team. CBF pays the salaries of a permanent staff and of all players while they are serving the national team. The players, usually international stars, are accommodated in the best hotels, and eat the best food.

cbf-headquarters

Project of new CBF headquarters

CBF negotiates with TV stations on behalf of the Brazilian teams. CBF, of course, attempts to collect as much money as possible. A problem arises, though, when it comes to share the money between the teams; not all teams are equal, and the money shouldn’t be split equally.

In 1987, this caused a small rebellion. There was no agreement between CBF and the major Brazilian teams, regarding division of TV revenues. That year, instead of submitting to CBF, the major 13 teams in Brazil decided to create the Clube dos 13 (Club of the 13), a kind of League of Clubs.

Clube dos 13 organized a parallel championship in 1987, called Cup João Havelange, which was not officially recognized by CBF. In the end, CBF asked Flamengo and Internacional, winners of João Havelange Cup, to have a play off against Sport Recife and Guarani, winners of the official CBF Brazilian Cup (which was disputed by the weaker teams of then). Flamengo and Inter refused, and Sport Recife was declared official champion of 1987; this is the origin of the controversy of the number of Brazilian championships of Flamengo: four five (already counting the recent title of 2009), according to CBF, or six, according to everybody else.

In 1988, CBF got back in terms with the teams, who managed to gain more voice against the Confederation: since then, the number of teams in the First Division decreased and stabilized in 20.

In the 1970s, the Brazilian tournament reaches nearly 100 teams (see figures here), obliging  big teams like Flamengo and Sao Paulo to travel all around the country. And the reason for that, of course, was not the importance of 100 teams, but because CBF, or rather the President of CBF, wanted to keep small teams happy to gain votes for the next election.

And here comes the figure of the President of CBF. The Confederation probably has a board of directors, but nobody knows anyone but the President. When one says “CBF decided”, one means “the President of CBF decided”.

For a long time, the President of CBF was Joao Havelange, who would later become President of FIFA. Since 1989, President is Ricardo Teixeira, son in law of Havelange.

ricardo-teixeira

Teixeira speaks for CBF. Teixeira signs all contracts. Teixeira can’t say who are the players who will play for Brazil, but he says who is the coach.

Teixeira is one of the most known, talked about and powerful man in Brazil.

Posted in cbf | No Comments »

Transportation infrastructure in Brazil

December 2nd, 2009

On December 4th 2009, FIFA will conduct the final draw of the World Cup 2010; the draw will define the composition of each of the eight groups, and, consequently, the host cities where each country will play.

Brazil is of course concerned with the countries which will fall in our group. But CBF expressed also concern with which group Brazil will seed; the Confederation hopes that Brazil falls in group B or G.

And the reason for that is, Brazil being in group B or G, would play four of the seven matches in the same city, Johannesburg. And CBF wants to avoid traveling around host cities in South Africa because the transportations infrastructure in that country is poor.

And this is the point of this post: is the transportation infrastructure in Brazil ready for the World Cup 2014? Will it be?

First point: Brazil is much bigger than South Africa, and the host cities of the World Cup 2014 are much more far apart than those in 2010.

In France, Japan, Korea and Germany (hosts of the most recent Cups), the main means of transportation between cities was the train. Brazil has no railway networks for transportation of passengers (most long distance railways operate cargo only); a bidding process is going on to build a bullet train between Rio and Sao Paulo, but it is uncertain whether it will ready by 2014 (estimated costs border US$ 20 billion). There are not and there will not be trains connecting the host cities of the World Cup 2014.

Brazilian airports are poor, compared to those in developed countries. Usually, there is only one major airport in each State (exceptions are only São Paulo, Rio and Minas Gerais), which concentrates all traffic. Air control, despite recent accidents (like this and this), is considered safe; however, it is uncertain whether the system will stand the major increase in air traffic expected for the World Cup.

Besides, supply of seats is limited. Just two airlines, TAM and Gol, control about 90% od all flights; there are strong restrictions for other international companies to operate in Brazil. This lack of competition caused the services of both companies to be poor; the companies rank amongst the most complained about in the Consumer Defense Agencies in Brazil. The companies never had interest in expanding the aerial network in Brazil; several of the host cities have no direct connection today (usually, a stop over is necessary in the major hubs: Sao Paulo and Brasilia).

Brazil announced heavy investments in airports, but frauds and delays are already being reported. It is dubious whether air companies will have the willing and the money to buy new aircrafts.

Brazil has an extensive network of highways. Several roads are in bad conditions, but the Governments are making efforts to improve them, either by chartering operations to private parties (NovaDutra operates the highway between Rio and Sao Paulo), or by investing large amounts of money (BR-101, which connects Salvador, Recife, Natal and Fortaleza, will be double laned next year).

So, long distance highways should be in good conditions for 2014. It remains to be seem if foreign visitors will endure the long distance drivings and the proverbial lack of education of Brazilian drivers (from 1999 to 2007, a staggering 254,000 deaths occurred in transit accidents in Brazil).

Governments are investment heavily to improve urban circulation; more highways, more metros, better urbanization. This will certainly help the residents, but won’t help visitors move around cities.

Then, there are ships. Almost all host cities have a port nearby. Cruises are growing in Brazil, and ships may be an option in 2014.

So, if the poor infrastructure in South Africa raises concerns in CBF, the situation in Brazil seems even worse.

Tags: ,
Posted in business, cities, infrastructure | 1 Comment »

Stadium: Maracana, Rio de Janeiro

November 26th, 2009

Maracanã was built to host the most important matches of the 1950 World Cup; unfortunately, the stadium also staged Maracanazo, the winning of Uruguay against Brazil in the final match.

Below, an image of Maracanã in 1950; as shown, the Brazilians attended matches in the stadium even before it was completely ready. Original capacity of Maracanã was 166,369, and current is 114,145.

building-maracana

Maracanã is a name of Indigenous origin. Maraca is a rustic musical instrument (basically, small stones in empty coconut shelves, which produce sounds when shaken) used by the indigenous. Maracanã means “sounds like maraca”, which was given by the Indigenous to a small river which runs across the area, from there to the neighbourhood, and from the neighbourhood to the stadium.

The official name of Maracanã is Mário Filho, a journalist who was very vocal in supporting the  building of the stadium.

Maracanazo is just one of the reasons why Maracanã will be the stage of the the final match of the 2014 World Cup; other cities – namely Sao Paulo, Brasilia and Belo Horizonte – are disputing the right to stage the opening match, but nobody in Brazil dares to consider a place other than Maracanã for the final.

Other reasons for the uncontested supremacy of Maracanã are: gathered the biggest crowd ever for a football match (nearly 200,000 people in the final of the 1950 Cup); gathered the largest audience for an artistic show (Paul McCartney, 1991, 184,368 people – not to be confused with the largest rock concert of all times, performed by the Rolling Stones in the nearby Copacabana beach to 2,000,000 people in 2006); historical performances by Frank Sinatra, Tina Turner, Madonna, Prince, the Stones; historical meetings called by Pope John Paul II; several of the most memorable matches of Brazilian football (including Pele’s 1000th goal).

Below, an image of Maracanã today. The arena is Maracanãzinho (little Maracanã), used for indoor sports. The swimming pool is Aquatic Park Julio Delamare, which used to be the most important venue for aquatic sports, but no longer  - a new complex called Maria Lenk replaced it (there are discussions about whether or not Julio Delamare should be demolished for the expansion of Maracanã).

maracana-today

The new Maracanã will have the capacity reduced to 90,000 people. Below, an artistic image of new Maracanã, produced by the architects hired by the government of Rio to prepare to project to be presented to FIFA.

artistic-maracana

Below, an image of the neighbourhood of new Maracanã. The stadium is situated in a populated area of Rio, and building the  infrastructure of access to and dispersion from the stadium will be a major challenge.

In the project below, catwalks (in orange) will be built linking the stadium to a large train station to be built; besides, the stretch of railway near the stadium will be roofed, and parking spaces will be built on those roofs.

maracana-project

Despite all challenges, it is certain that CBF, FIFA and Rio will do all they can to prepare Maracanã to justify the status of main temple of football in 2014.

Tags: ,
Posted in cities, stadium | No Comments »

Jobs in World Cup Brazil 2014

November 24th, 2009

Several people have been accessing this blog looking for information about “jobs World Cup 2014″, “jobs Brazil 2014″ and other similar terms.

Probably the best way to get a job in Brazil during the World Cup is as a volunteer. All host countries of World Cups make a call for volunteers (see volunteer work in South Africa 2010); volunteers gain a lifetime experience, and FIFA gets cheap labor force.

brazil-logoIn Brazil, there will probably be a higher demand for volunteers than in past World Cups. And the reason is that Brazil has very few English (and other foreign languages) speakers, unlike South Africa (where many people have English as first language) or Japan/Korea and France (where there is a high number of educated people who speak foreigner languages).

The advantage of being chosen as volunteer by FIFA is that all volunteers will be granted a Visa to enter and stay in Brazil during the World Cup. And the Visa is a problem for those looking for a paid job in Brazil during the Cup.

Brazil, like most countries, doesn’t issue visas easily for people looking for jobs (see the legislation about visas to Brazil). Today, a foreigner only gets a work visa under special conditions (e.g., the job vacancy must be offered first to a Brazilian, and the contractor must prove that no national is capable of filling the job, etc).

However, this can change until 2014. Brazil is experiencing a very fast paced growth, and it is clear that Brazilian professionals will not be capable to fill all the jobs which require interaction with foreigner people (e.g., there are no Brazilian doctors capable of talking to foreign patients, there are no Brazilian lawyers capable of handling international laws).

There will probably be opportunities for foreigners to work in Brazil during the Cup, but this will demand changes in Brazilian immigration laws (to facilitate the issuing of work permits). FIFA will probably lobby in favor of such changes, as already happened with tax laws and visual pollution laws.

Only time will tell.

Tags: ,
Posted in business, fifa | 8 Comments »

Maracana – biggest human mosaic in the world

November 23rd, 2009

There are few doubts that Maracanã will be the stage of the final match of the World Cup 2014 in Brazil. São Paulo, the most powerful Brazilian State (both in economic and sports terms) is claiming to have the right to stage the opening match of the Cup (in a fierce competition with Brasilia and Belo Horizonte), but nobody dares to claim the final match from Rio and Maracanã.

Yesterday, Flamengo (the most popular team in the World, measured by number of fans) and Goias had a match; Flamengo had a chance to take the leadership of the Brazilian League 2009 (the match ended 0 x 0, Flamengo missed this chance, but is just one point behind leader Sao Paulo FC).

The match was in Maracanã, the largest stadium in Brazil, the largest football stadium in the World. The match was attended by (official numbers, lower than real numbers, as many people get in unregistered) 83,489 people.

flamengoThis figure is far from the record attendance of nearly 200,000 people in the final of the 1950 World Cup; however, as security measures oblige stadium to decrease capacity, it is unlikely that any other stadium in the World will see such big crowd in the near future.

The biggest attraction of the match were not the players or the goals; it was the crowd. Flamengo is not only the biggest, but also the most passionate supporting crowd in Brazil. After several years (last time was in 1992), Flamengo has strong chances to become the Brazilian champion.

To mark the event, Flamengo’s fans created the largest human mosaic of all times. See below.

The human mosaic reads, against a background with the colors of Flamengo, the message: “A Maior Torcida do Mundo Faz a Diferença” (The Biggest Supporting Crowd in the World Makes the Difference).

Flamengo will play again in Maracanã on December 6th, against Grêmio (another ex-Brazilian and World champion), and the match may be deciding the Brazilian championship. Another big party is expected.

Tags: , ,
Posted in cities, stadium, team | No Comments »

New metro station in Recife

November 21st, 2009

Metrorec, the State owned company which runs the metro of Recife, one of the host cities of the World Cup 2014, just announced that the works to build a new metro station will start in January of 2010; the new station should be finished by the end of 2010.

In Recife, the matches will be played in a complex called Cidade da Copa (City of the Cup), which will include a new stadium called Arena Capibaribe; the complex will be built in the city of São Lourenço da Mata, in the metropolitan area of Greater Recife.

The new metro station will be called Cosme e Damião (the Portuguese for brothers Saints Cosmas and Damian). The new station will be built between the already existing stations of Rodoviária (the inter State bus station) and Camaragibe. The works will be conducted at night, so as to not interfere with the daily traffic of trains and people.

The new station will be at a distance of approximately 600 meters (0.4 mi) of the entrance of the City of Cup, and about 2,5 km (1.6 mi) of the Arena Capibaribe (the dashed red line shows the border between Recife and São Lourenço).

metro-recife

The link between the metro stations and the stadium will be by bus. Metrorec informed that there are plans to create shuttle bus services between the arena and the three stations, Rodovária, Cosme e Damião, and Camaragibe, to try to divide the public and facilitate access and dispersion in days of matches.

This new station serves one of the poorest areas in Recife, and had been expected by local residents for a long time. Governments had a project ready, but lacked funds to build it. The Cup is starting to bring benefits to people of Recife.

Tags:
Posted in cities, infrastructure | No Comments »

« Older Entries