Former Brazil football star Romario has said Fifa must not be allowed to dictate changes to Brazilian law ahead of the World Cup in 2014.<\/p>\n
Romario – who is now a congressman – said laws that guarantee half-price tickets to students and pensioners should not be swept away.<\/p>\n
The Brazilian congress is currently debating a bill that would meet Fifa’s conditions for the tournament.<\/p>\n
Romario, 45, led Brazil’s attack when they won the World Cup in 1994.<\/p>\n
The former star was speaking on a visit to Rio de Janeiro’s Maracana stadium, which is being refurbished for the tournament.<\/p>\n
“If Fifa is not put in its rightful place it will soon have more power than our president,” he told journalists.<\/p>\n
Romario said Fifa could bear the cost of maintaining discounted tickets for students and pensioners during the tournaments estimated at around $100m (\u00a364m).<\/p>\n
“Fifa could earn a little bit less so that the Brazilians can take part,” he said.<\/p>\n
Fifa says the money it makes from World Cup tournaments is reinvested in football.
Delays<\/p>\n
Earlier Romario expressed himself more strongly on his Twitter account.<\/p>\n
“Brazil needs to stop this business of becoming a slave of Fifa,” he tweeted.<\/p>\n
“The sovereignty of the country must be respected”.<\/p>\n
Romario also warned that infrastructure projects needed for the tournament, including airports and urban transport, were behind schedule.<\/p>\n
“Brazil is certainly not going to stage the best World Cup in history as some have said,” he warned.<\/p>\n
“It is not going to be a World Cup for the Brazilian people”.<\/p>\n
Last month the head of Fifa Sepp Blatter wrote to Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff to express concern over delays in the construction of stadiums and infrastructure for the World Cup.<\/p>\n
Fifa has also been pressing for the rapid approval of the World Cup law, which also covers the protection of trademarks, television rights and the sale of alcohol in stadiums. <\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Former Brazil football star Romario has said Fifa must not be allowed to dictate changes to Brazilian law ahead of the World Cup in 2014. Romario – who is now a congressman – said laws that guarantee half-price tickets to students and pensioners should not be swept away. The Brazilian congress is currently debating a bill that would meet Fifa’s conditions for the tournament. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-489324","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\n