= COPA 2014: CARTA À FIFA - 1

Sent Letter to FIFA:

26/02/2009
To:Mr. Joseph Blatter
President Fédération Internationale de Football Association – FIFAFIFA
Strasse 20,PO Box 8044 Zurich, Switzerland

Ref.: World Cup 2014 in Brazil

The influence of FIFA in the world is certainly enormous, promoting the sports and peace, and bringing to different societies values based on fairness and spirit of fraternity. The soccer competitions promoted by FIFA at several countries and cities, along its history, bring to the host communities development and improvement of life quality for its citizens. No one can doubt about these achievements by FIFA.

The responsibility and capacity demonstrated by FIFA in disseminating the peace and deeply promoting the integration among different people and cultures mean that the Federation is able influence attitudes, consolidate the awareness of the justice and merit, using soccer competitions often more efficiently than mainstream international diplomacy.

Thus, hosting a World Cup is a surprisingly effective way to bring to a given society those values that have been so important to the FIFA itself, which are at the basis of its international acknowledgement as a serious and engaged institution.

The decision of bringing the World Cup to Brazil in 2014 is already shaping attitudes and raising an overview of the image the Brazilians have of themselves. It is beginning to be a collective reaction with a enormous potential to spark a national reflection on several aspects of the Brazil’s weakness and strengths, things we need to improve and things we need to build-up from the ground level. This is one especial opportunity to spread in this society values that are becoming faint, resulting in violence and social disintegration in several areas of the country.

Despite all the justified Brazilian pride in relation to soccer, we are to become aware that many other aspects of our dynamic society need change. This is the main legacy a World Cup in Brazil should offer. And we have to be grateful to FIFA for this great opportunity to do so.

The potential for a collective chemistry towards values and attitudes is amazing, as we are almost 200 million people. This number gives the true dimension of the power of the World Cup in Brazil. This number gives also an accurate idea of the weight of every single act related to this World Cup. There is no room for decisions that may transfer for the population, especially the young and children, any example of unfairness and other attitudes that divert from the traditional FIFA values.

Brazilians have been historically exposed to several examples of attitudes that harm the very core of the collective thinking, which may be in the roots of violence and social disintegration. We are a country were one still can succeed taking advantages of others, and violence in Rio and environmental problems are some of the results of this situation. What we need are demonstrations that ethics, justice, and merit are values upon which a fair society should be built, and the World Cup is an excellent opportunity to increase the collective awareness of these values.

The selection of the cities where the games will be hold resulted in competition among cities and their people. This competition resulted in a deep awareness about the selection process, meaning that fair decisions, based on the values discussed before, are required. Otherwise, the message to the collectivity will be distorted, and this is something we do not want. Ethics and merit should be at the basis of the decisions, in such a way that the message transmitted for the people is clear and sound. At this point, FIFA will start building up the quality of its legacy for the Brazilian people.

Given the aspects exposed above, we have to expect nothing different than the selection of Campo Grande as the host-city in the Pantanal region. This decision will prize a city that, along its history, has passed through administrations whose focus has been the improvement of the life quality for its citizens. The result is a city with a fair urban mobility, large parks, clean streets, and no slums at all (which is rare in South American cities). The values of merit should then be taken into account, more than any other value, especially when a city has demonstrated its capacity to plan its future as Campo Grande has demonstrated. The message for the Brazilians then will be that decades of work in the right direction should be prized. Other decision than that will prize decades of lack of planning, and lack of focus on the life quality.

The compromise with ethics also should be strong here. We are all aware of the attempts of political influences on the FIFA’s decision, and the midia has been able to gives a whole scenario of undesirable values that have been involved in the disputes. Thus, we all hope that FIFA is aware about what kind of wrong message may be sent to the population if decisions based on unclear influences are taken.

The people of Campo Grande are completely engaged in this World Cup, as demonstrated by the reception given to the FIFA Committee that visited the city. There were 200,000 people in the streets and avenues, about 25% of the entire city’s population. This same people will be in our large urban parks partying with the visitors in between each game. This is the spirit we want to bring as an example of a city that is ready to be involved in the construction of a successful World Cup in Brazil.

The physical legacy of the World Cup in Campo Grande is a long-lasting gift, as the stadium is located inside a public University campus, and will serve many generations of students and the general public. The improvements to be applied in the University Hospital, located at the same campus and very close to the stadium, also will greatly contribute to the training of medicine students and also continue to serve the general public.

As Campo Grande has already a better urban planning, an already planned reform of its international airport, several large urban parks, and an almost finished, modern inter-state bus station, the city will constitute an excellent example of how current good administration and novelties brought by a World Cup result in an enormous benefit for the community. Campo Grande will serve as an excellent example FIFA may use to demonstrate how important, influential, and fair a World Cup may be.

Other cities will mirror the example of Campo Grande, if prized by FIFA, instead of be waiting for a miraculous event that would give solutions to every problem resulted of decades of bad administration. The populations of those cities would become aware of the differences and are expected to require from their politicians and administrators the same pattern of achievements existent in Campo Grande. This is a legacy that goes beyond the benefits which Campo Grande may attain, as people from other cities will be given a reference to look for. This is an important part of non-physical legacy of the World Cup in Brazil.

We trust in the FIFA’s decision, especially due to the values that shape its image worldwide. We also are confident that FIFA wishes to bring the right messages to the Brazilian people, in a compromise based on sound responsibility.



CALMA,

A TRADUÇÃO VEM EM SEGUIDA.


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