The Road to the Brazil 2014 World Cup
All of the eyes of the football community are currently on South Africa as the 2010 Fifa World Cup gets into full swing. However, investors and those looking to purchase Brazilian property already have their sights firmly set four years in the future.
Back in 2007 Brazil was confirmed as the host nation for the World Cup in 2014. Fifa’s rotating system means that the tournament was due to be held in South America and Brazil has not hosted the event since 1950.
Speaking at the time, Brazil’s president Lula de Silva said the country was looking forward to the challenge of hosting the event: "Organising the World Cup is a huge task and we have far more responsibility weighing on our shoulders than when we arrived [at the announcing ceremony]. But we will organise a great World Cup and I am very happy."
Since then Natal in the state of Rio Grande de Norte has been confirmed as a host city, as have Belo Horizonte, Brasilia, Cuiaba, Curitiba, Fortaleza, Manaus, Natal, Porto Alegre, Recife, Rio de Janeiro, Salvador and Sao Paulo.
CBF, which is the Brazilian football association, president Ricardo Terra Teixeira said: "For the 12 privileged cities chosen, it’s the beginning of the work. They have a huge responsibility."
Investment in the country has also already increased, with many people preparing for the boost in tourism, and income, which the tournament will bring.
British business United Business Media recently announced that it purchased three businesses in the country. These include the exhibition firm Sienna Interlink, which owns the Concrete Show South America. UBM said that through the deal it hopes to cash in on the new infrastructure which is being created due to the 2014 World Cup and the Rio Olympics in 2016.
Brazilian property owners will also be in a position to cash in on the business brought to the country by thousands of football fans during the tournament.
The announcement has already been made that work will be carried out to increase the number of hotel rooms in the country before the tournament under the Pro-Cup hotels programme, which will have BR$1 billion (£345 million) of investment.
Chris Fuzinatto, director of Embratur, the Brazilian tourism office for the UK and Ireland, said: "There are also plans for a significant boost in hotel infrastructure, it is estimated that over 1,100 hotels will submit plans to expand."
Foreign visitor numbers at the World Cup currently taking place in South Africa are expected to be at around 300,000. However, owners of property in Brazil may be interested to know that Fifa could overhaul the ticketing system by 2014 in a bid to increase sales, AFP reported.
There had been criticisms made that the online system used for this year’s tournament had been too complicated and expensive.
Jerome Valcke, secretary general of Fifa, told the news provider that the system the organisation used was a "huge mistake".
"We will start all ticketing policies from scratch for 2014. It could be that we would be facing some similar problems in Brazil," he added.
Members of the team which will be involved in organising the events are in South Africa observing the tournament to assess how the country is dealing with problems and challenges.
Brazilian Sports Minister Orlando Silva told the Associated Press that a particular priority for the country will be hospitality and airport infrastructure.
Mr Silva told the news provider: "We have to work very quickly, work a lot to prepare the country for the World Cup and prepare the country for the future. We want it to be sustainable. We want a successful World Cup, but we also want to improve the country for our people."
Luckily, most of these changes will also improve the country for Brazilian property owners.
