Brazilian FA submits bid to stage 2014 World Cup finals

Written by Sam Wilson , 31.07 15h44

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The Brazilian Football Association (CBF) formally presented football’s ruling body Fifa with a 900-page dossier today as it steps up its bid to host the 2014 World Cup finals.

A CBF delegation delivered the dossier to Fifa on Tuesday 31 July, and Brazilian officials have every reason to be confident that their bid will succeed.

At present, Brazil is the sole bidder to host the tournament as South American neighbours Colombia pulled out of the race in April.

And the chances of the world’s most successful footballing nation hosting the World Cup in seven years time are further boosted by the fact that under Fifa's rotation policy it will be South America's turn to stage the event in 2014.

Yet Fifa president Sepp Blatter still refused to confirm that the five-time world champions would be hosting the finals.

He said: “For the time being, Brazil has not yet been given the World Cup.”

Despite having won more World Cups than any other country, Brazil have only hosted the finals on one occasion, in 1950, when Uruguay took home the famous Jules Rimet trophy after beating the Seleção 2-1.

Fifa will be inspecting the CBF’s bid closely amid concerns that the country's ageing stadiums are not fit to host such a prestigious tournament.

And Fifa president Blatter warned the Brazilian delegation that a failure to meet Fifa's strict requirements could lead to the nation losing the finals.

He said: "If something should happen to the Brazil bid, then we still have time to start again as we are a year in advance of the decision-making process for previous World Cups.”

Fifa will travel to Brazil in September 2007 to carry out an inspection of the country’s infrastructure before confirming the hosts of the 2014 tournament in November.

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