Poor areas should benefit from World Cup

As the World Cup kicks off, the Brazilian government and FIFA will be hoping that the world’s attention turns to the soccer field, and away from the strikes and complaints about the organisers’ ineffectiveness.

Popular protests across Brazil have highlighted the prohibitive costs of the tournament and FIFA’s unwillingness to let small business benefit from the event. Protesters claim that the World Cup is designed for foreign elites, and deepens the marginalisation of Brazil’s poorer communities. FIFA’s insistence that its multinational corporate sponsors obtain large tax breaks has further fuelled the widespread criticism.

This criticism could have been avoided. In the experience of Irish NGOs, mega sports events such as the World Cup have great potential to benefit poor people. However, such benefits are not automatic, and can only materialise if the organisers respect people’s rights and set out to include marginalised communities.