SAO PAULO, (Reuters) – Brazil ruled out any further dealing with FIFA general secretary Jerome Valcke on Saturday after he said the country needed a “kick up the backside” to be ready in time to host the 2014 World Cup.
Sports Minister Aldo Rebelo told a news conference that Valcke’s words on Friday had been “offensive” and “unacceptable.”
“The government will no longer accept…(Valcke) as an interlocutor,” Rebelo said. “The FIFA secretary’s declarations…make it difficult to have an environment of cooperation and understanding.”
His comments marked a further escalation of a dispute with FIFA that has simmered for years as several Brazilian stadiums, hotels, roads and other basic infrastructure for the 2014 Cup run badly behind schedule.
Valcke, who was due to visit Brazil in coming days, had said “not a lot is moving” in the country’s preparations. He dismissed Rebelo’s reaction as ‘puerile’.
“Why doesn’t he deal with the issue?,” he replied when informed of the comments during a news conference in England where he was attending the annual meeting of FIFA’s International Football Association Board.
“I’m fine. If that’s the problem because nothing has happened over the five years the result of one remark I made, then, wow.
“One comment saying things are not working well, and I for once say exactly what is happening in Brazil. If the result is they don’t want to talk to me any more, I’m not the guy they want to work with — that’s a bit puerile.”
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