Brazil President Backs Sao Paulo for 2014 WC Opener

February 28, 2011

Dilma Rousseff, state President of Brazil, has added her support behind Sao Paulo to be named as the venue for the Opening Match of the 2014 FIFA World Cup finals.

Sports Minister Orlando Silva, confirmed Rousseff’s stance having been heavily involved in the often chaotic negotiations between central and regional governments and sports bodies about how to raise the necessary cash.

Silva stated: “The President is satisfied with what she has heard from the state governor and the mayor and believe that Sao Paulo should, and will, stage the Opening Match.”

Politicians from the cities of Belo Horizonte, Brasilia and Salvador had proposed their own bid to stage the events opener, after the original ambition of redeveloping Sao Paulo’s Morumbi stadium had collapsed.

The latest proposal is to use the new stadium being planned by Corinthians, one of Brazil’s biggest and most popular clubs, in the eastern Itaquera district with the President having approved a proposal for the Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social to come up with foundation funding.

Sao Paulo mayor Gilberto Kassab said that the construction of Itaquerao should finally start in April – barely three years before the finals start.