Brazil 2014 host cities confirmed

Meeting in Nassau (Bahamas) on 30-31 May 2009, the FIFA Executive Committee, chaired by FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter, confirmed the 12 Host Cities for the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil™, on the basis of extensive analysis by FIFA and the Local Organising Committee of the 17 candidate cities, as follows:

Belo Horizonte, Brasília, Cuiabá, Curitiba, Fortaleza, Manaus, Natal, Porto Alegre, Recife, Rio de Janeiro, Salvador, São Paulo.

The FIFA World Cup™ will take place in Brazil for the second time. The five-time world champions last hosted FIFA's flagship event in 1950.

Furthermore, the FIFA Executive Committee discussed a wide range of topics:

59th FIFA Congress
The Executive received an update on the preparations for the 59th FIFA Congress (2-3 June 2009, Nassau, Bahamas), the main theme of which will be protecting the game, protecting players and ensuring sound governance.

Olympic Football Tournaments
The Executive welcomed the agreement between the four British football associations that Great Britain would be represented by teams consisting exclusively of English players at the 2012 Men's and Women's Olympic Football Tournaments. As far as FIFA is concerned, the matter is thus closed.

FIFA U-17 World Cup Nigeria 2009
The Executive decided that a high-ranking delegation including FIFA Vice-President and CAF President Issa Hayatou, FIFA Vice-President and chairman of the Organising Committee for the FIFA U-17 World Cup Jack A. Warner, FIFA Executive Committee member Dr Amos Adamu and FIFA Secretary General Jerome Valcke would meet Nigerian Vice-President Dr Goodluck Jonathan in Lagos on 11 June to request binding government guarantees that Nigeria will fulfil all requirements for hosting the FIFA U-17 World Cup 2009. If these guarantees are given, the six venues will be Abuja, Calabar, Enugu, Ijebu-Ode, Kano and Lagos. Should the guarantees not be issued, FIFA would withdraw the organisation of this tournament from Nigeria and an alternative host nation would be found.

FIFA Confederations Cup South Africa 2009
With only two weeks to go before the FIFA Confederations Cup in South Africa, the Executive received an update on the current status of preparations for this major international football event, as well as for the 2010 FIFA World Cup™. Almost 70 per cent of tickets for the upcoming FIFA Confederations Cup have been sold, which is comparable to sales for the previous edition in Germany in 2005.

Doping
The Executive welcomed correspondence received from WADA (the World Anti-Doping Agency) on 29 May confirming that the 2009 FIFA Anti-Doping Regulations comply with the World Anti-Doping Code in all respects save art. 54, which concerns a player's return to training following suspension and would require further discussion.

Stadiums and Security
Two months after the tragedy in Abidjan, where 22 fans lost their lives in a stampede before a FIFA World Cup™ qualifying game between Côte d'Ivoire and Malawi, the Executive fully backed the measures taken last month by the FIFA Stadium and Security Committee (see following media release on the right hand side). In particular, it was stressed again that no matches would kick off until order and security had been ensured in and around the stadium.

Member associations

Ethiopia: the Executive supported the lifting of the suspension on the Ethiopian Football Federation (EFF) on condition that the electoral committee that had since been installed would organise and chair an elective general assembly by the end of July 2009.

Kuwait: the Executive agreed to extend the conditional lifting of the suspension on the Kuwait Football Association in order to allow the Kuwaiti parliament to ratify amendments to national sports legislation to comply with the requirements of FIFA and other international sports federations. Since the current interim committee's term was reaching completion, a new interim committee would be installed by FIFA and the AFC in order to manage the internal affairs of the association. In addition, a separate electoral committee would be appointed in order to convene association elections.

Peru: in view of the ongoing issues between the government and sports authorities, FIFA will determine the next steps to be taken to accelerate the resolution of the stalemate between the Peruvian Football Association and the other parties involved.

FIFA Code of Ethics
The Executive approved the 2009 FIFA Code of Ethics. In particular, in order to clarify the channels for submitting cases to the FIFA Ethics Committee, the Executive agreed to add the following as art. 16: "FIFA accepts complaints only from the Executive Committee of an association, the Executive Committee of a confederation, members of the FIFA Executive Committee and from the FIFA Secretary General". Moreover, art. 14 was amended as follows: "Officials shall report any evidence of violations of conduct to the FIFA Secretary General, who shall report it to the competent body."

IFAB - additional officials
At its 2009 Annual General Meeting, the International FA Board gave permission for the continuation of FIFA's experiment with two additional officials. The Executive decided that this experiment will be conducted, under the auspices of FIFA, during the 2009-2010 UEFA Europa League.

Brazil gets its party started

In a scene repeated in 12 cities across Brazil on Sunday, thousands of expectant fans gathered together in front of big screens clutching banners in their hands. To the uninitiated it might have looked like they had assembled for a vital match, especially when the crowds, reacting to events on the screen, suddenly exploded with joy.

The trigger for their celebrations was no championship-winning goal or the final whistle of a crucial cup match, however. It was something even more important: the announcement of the host cities for the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil™. And every time FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter read out one of the dozen names at a televised press conference in Nassau, Bahamas, he triggered wild scenes of jubilation in the city in question.

Brazil is staging the game's showpiece tournament for the first time in 64 years, during which time it has established itself as the globe's foremost footballing superpower with five FIFA World Cup wins. And with five years still to go before the big kick-off, the cities of Belo Horizonte, Brasilia, Cuiaba, Curitiba, Fortaleza, Manaus, Natal, Porto Alegre, Recife, Rio de Janeiro, Salvador and Sao Paulo can now start preparing for the big event.

I call upon everyone to help bring to fruition projects that will allow the entire country to take part in this event, not just the host cities.
Brazilian FA president Ricardo Terra Teixeira
Although Sunday is football day in Brazil, the fact that big screens had been put up everywhere and unusually large crowds had gathered well before kick-off time in stadiums up and down the country showed that this was no ordinary afternoon of futebol. Proof was provided by the 70,000 fans assembled at the Maracana, who were celebrating well before Flamengo's 2-1 defeat of Atletico Paranaense.

When the city of Rio de Janeiro was confirmed as one of the host venues for Brazil 2014 half an hour before kick-off, the massed ranks of Fla fans reacted in spectacular style, waving a sea of Brazilian flags and forming a huge green and yellow mosaic. The singer Sandra de Sa then performed the Brazilian national anthem in front of a crowd that included a small band of Atletico supporters, who had made the journey from Curitiba and were also in exultant mood following the inclusion of their home city on the list of 12.

Helping the celebrations go with a swing at the Estadio Barradao in Salvador was Ivete Sangalo, one of the biggest stars on the Brazilian music scene right now. The news the city had been waiting to hear came through when hometown heroes Vitoria were warming up out on the pitch, triggering a huge party led by the singer and adorned by 40,000 green and white balloons. Meanwhile, in O Pelourinho, the historical centre of the city, samba reggae group Olodum set the beat for the celebrations.

There were similar scenes at the Estadio Morumbi, where the 51,000 fans who had turned up for Sao Paulo's 3-0 defeat of Cruzeiro, most of them sporting yellow T-shirts, were unable to contain their delight at the city's successful nomination. The club marked the occasion by doing its bit for charity, waiving the usual admission fee and instead asking fans to bring along a kilogram of food for the victims of the floods that recently struck the north and north-east of the country.

Sunday in the street
In each of the 12 fortunate cities, the party spilled out of the stadiums and into the streets. In Manaus, the capital of the state of Amazonas, a crowd of 20,000 people started congregating in front of the Estadio Vivaldao as early as ten o'clock in the morning for a huge street party featuring fireworks, regional dancing and the band Jota Quest.

Enticed by the warm weather, the residents of Sao Lourenco da Mata, in Brazil's north-east, were out in force to celebrate the news that the nearby city of Recife will be hosting games at a purpose-built stadium, with local musical hero Alceu Valenca providing the entertainment for 10,000 revellers. Music also provided the focal point for parties on Ponta Negra beach in Natal, and on Avenida Beira-Mar in the city of Fortaleza.

Few cities were as excited at the prospect of hosting the FIFA World Cup as Cuiaba, the capital of the state of Mato Grosso and a symbol of the rich natural diversity of the vast tropical wetlands known as the Pantanal. The local authorities rewarded the locals for their enthusiastic support by laying on a host of events across the city, with more than 500 performers from the region turning out for the occasion.

The capital city Brasilia joined in the festivities by setting up a big screen in Taguating, and the residents of Belo Horizonte were also rejoicing, with a huge fireworks show attracting a throng of 10,000 people. And while it might be chilly in the south at this time of year, that was no deterrent for the folk of Curitiba and Porto Alegre. While Os Curitibanos assembled in the Parque Barigui for the big announcement, thousands of Gremio and Internacional fans mingled in the Parque da Redencao in Porto Alegre for a fun-filled afternoon of shows and football matches.

Fun for everyone
Sunday's outpouring of joy will be followed by many more in the 12 successful cities as 2014 approaches. Yet, as Ricardo Terra Teixeira, the President of the Local Organising Committee of the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil, quite rightly pointed out, all of Brazil's 190 million inhabitants will have great cause for celebration over the next five years.

"The whole of Brazil is a winner," commented Teixeira, who is also a member of the FIFA Executive Committee and the President of the Brazilian Football Association (CBF). "I call upon everyone to help bring to fruition projects that will allow the entire country to take part in this event, not just the host cities."

At a time of national joy, pride and celebration, Teixeira also took the opportunity to reveal what lies ahead for the host cities. "This announcement is not the end of a process. It is anything but. The 2014 World Cup is only just starting and all we have done is pass the entrance examination. We have five whole years ahead of us before we can graduate."

Sunday marked the start of an exciting period for football-mad Brazil, one in which their long-cherished dream of once again welcoming the rest of the footballing world will gradually take shape.