FIFA Chief Says Brazil World Cup Good for 2016 Olympics

(ATR) FIFA president Sepp Blatter tells Around the Rings the organization of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil will help Rio de Janeiro to deliver a great Olympics in 2016.

“I think it will be a very good combination. With the Olympics it means we can use [the expertise] of the World Cup to put all the logistics in place,” Blatter told ATR in Copenhagen a short time after the IOC chose Rio for the 2016 Games.

“I am sure that both of the committees will soon be working together.”

Blatter believes the staging of the World Cup and Olympics in Brazil means FIFA and the IOC must work more closely together, especially on marketing matters where concerns still linger over meeting sponsorship revenue targets for the Olympics.

“I think this is a good idea, to meet with Gerhard Heiberg [head of IOC marketing commission]. I think it's a good opportunity to speak with him,” Blatter said.

“I don't think there are so many conflicting problems because many of our big marketing partners are the same ones for the Olympics. Perhaps from a promotional point of view there will be a little more football for the time being than the Olympics.

“Even if there is a conflict for promotion it will be beneficial for Brazil; everybody will speak about Brazil,” he added.

Heiberg told ATR that meetings with FIFA were in the works.

“We will be meeting with FIFA at some time soon to see how we can work together as well as avoid conflict between the two marketing programs,” said Heiberg, who is also in Copenhagen for the IOC Session and Olympic Congress.

Blatter was asked what was more important for Brazil, football or the Olympics. He said: “First there will be football, football will be big, then the Olympics they will try to reach the same level.

“But you cannot compare football to the Olympics. The Olympics are 28 sports, in one city. In football [World Cup]there is one month exactly and it is spread around the country.”

Blatter echoed the sentiments of a majority of IOC members (66) who voted for Rio to stage the 2016 Games, insisting the city was a good choice.

“I am sure. I was just in Rio. One of the [2016] candidates criticized us for having the meeting in Rio but that was scheduled a long time ago, to reassess, to reconfirm with the authorities of our wish, of our determination to have a wonderful World Cup,” he said.

“It also coincides with the wonderful friendship I have with President Lula, for six years. Already during his first term in office we met. Now he's a happy man. And I am not unhappy we are connected with the Olympic Games.”

Senior figures from the Rio 2016 organizing committee and decision-makers from many of the 2014 World Cup host cities will take part in a panel discussion on the two sporting events at the Soccerex conference in South Africa on Dec. 2.

Participants include: Marcia Lins, secretary of sports and manager for the 2014 World Cup, Rio de Janeiro; Fabio Simao, project manager for the World Cup, Brasilia; Tiago Lacerda, president of the municipal committee for the World Cup, Belo Horizonte; Caio Carvalho, executive coordinator World Cup, Sao Paulo.

Commenting on football’s status in the Olympics, Blatter told German news agency DPA on Tuesday that the current men’s U-23 format, which allows for three older players, was perhaps still the best one. “'I don't want a power struggle. We should decide within FIFA that we want to stay with the present system,” he said.

Blatter appears to have come round to the idea that the U-21 format he previously advocated may not be the most suitable for the Olympics, despite support from Europe's top leagues who are not keen to release their top players for the Games.

“I am more and more convinced that the present system is not bad,” Blatter was quoted by DPA. “I had also been supporting an U-21 format until I saw what it [the U-23 format] meant to the Olympians.”

A FIFA task force is currently assessing football’s role in the Olympics and is scheduled to report back to Blatter and his colleagues at a meeting in South Africa in December. The IOC Executive Board is due to decide the format for football on the Olympic program the same month.

Blatter also insisted he was not worried about the organizational challenges, including security and transport issues, for the South Africa 2010 World Cup. “I can sleep well, I have no great concerns,” he said.

Written by Mark Bisson and Ed Hula.