President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) received this Monday (26) the presidents of FIFA, Gianni Infantino, and the CBF (Brazilian Football Confederation), Samir Xaud, at Palácio do Planalto, where they discussed the Women’s World Cup.
After the meeting, the FIFA president minimized the boycott movements against the Men’s World Cup, which began after the United States government announced measures such as banning the entry of fans from countries such as Iran, Haiti and Senegal.
Faced with this and other protectionist moves by Donald Trump, European countries threatened to boycott their fans’ participation in the World Cup.
The diplomatic crisis escalated with American moves to annex Greenland. After repercussions around the world, Trump retreated from the armed threat to the territory, and said he was open to negotiating. Denmark, for its part, says Greenland is not for sale.
“I always look to the future and what is important about football events like the World Cup, the Men’s World Cup or the Women’s World Cup here in Brazil is that they bring people together,” Infantino told reporters on Monday.
Infantino had already shown support for Trump on previous occasions, even awarding him the first FIFA “Peace Prize”, created to honor leaders who contributed to global unity, last year. The leader of the Federation has also publicly defended that Trump should receive the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
The entity’s president also stated that more than 500 million requests for tickets for the men’s cup have already been received.
The meeting with representatives of the entities takes place days after Lula signed an MP (Provisional Measure) that regulates the use of brands, official symbols and broadcasting and media rights for the 2027 Women’s World Cup, scheduled to take place between June 24th and July 25th.
According to Samir Xaud, from CBF, the 2029 Club World Cup was not among the topics discussed. However, he reinforced Brazil’s intention to host the event.
“We believe that Brazil is ready to host this grand event, but this requires a lot of conversations, a lot of adjustments, but Brazil will put forward its candidacy for the 29th”, he stated.
On Sunday (25) FIFA launched the official brand of the Women’s Cup in Rio de Janeiro, which will be played in 2027 in eight Brazilian cities. There will be 32 participating teams, which will play in São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Brasília, Belo Horizonte, Porto Alegre, Salvador, Recife and Fortaleza.
For the eight host cities, the law provides for areas of commercial and advertising restrictions in delimited regions around the stadiums and spaces of the FIFA Fan Festival. The measure focuses on curbing so-called ambush marketing, when other brands try to take advantage of or inappropriately appropriate the event. It is a common measure in mega cultural and sporting events.
Brazil’s choice to host the World Cup was announced in May 2024 in Bangkok, Thailand. The Brazilian candidacy surpassed the joint proposal presented by Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands.
The MP signed by Lula on Friday (23) also establishes that the protection of commercial and marketing rights does not mean exemption or relaxation of health, consumer protection and child and adolescent protection standards in national legislation, which remains fully applicable to the World Cup’s advertising actions.
Regarding the broadcast of matches, FIFA committed to offering excerpts of up to 3% of the duration of matches for informational purposes to broadcasters that do not hold the rights. The entity has exclusivity in managing the capture of images and sounds of the event.
Finally, the document provides for civil sanctions for anyone who misuses official symbols, holds unauthorized public exhibitions for commercial purposes or sells tickets illegally.
The series of measures is part of the protocol carried out in all events of this kind held in Brazil, as occurred when Brazil hosted the Confederations Cup (2013), the World Cup (2014) and the Olympic and Paralympic Games (2016).
