The Estádio Nacional in Brasilia produces more solar energy than 11 countries competing in the 2014 FIFA World Cup, according to a report by UK non-governmental organisation Practical Action. 

The solar production of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Cameroon, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Honduras, Iran, Ivory Coast and Uruguay all fall below the 2.5 MW capability of the stadium in Brazil’s capital. 

Ghana’s national solar capacity matches that of the stadium, which will host seven matches during the world’s largest single sport event.

Three other World Cup stadiums also have major solar power installations, the Mineirão in Belo Horizonte producing 1.4MW, the Itaipava Arena in Pernambuco producing 1MW and the rebuilt Maracanã in Rio de Janeiro producing 500KW. 

These observations were reported by Practical Action on Wednesday, on the back of their new Poor Peoples’ Energy Outlook report.

Simon Trace, CEO of Practical Action said: “The organisers and FIFA are to be congratulated for making a considerable financial investment and making this the greenest World Cup in history.”

The Estádio Nacional in Brasilia cost US$640m stadium, making it one of the most expensive stadiums in history and starkly contrasting with the economic situation of many of the competing nations.

“It is.. an indictment of the investment in renewable energy in the developing world that there are ten competing countries that do not even produce as much solar energy as a single World Cup stadium,” said Trace.

“Currently more than one billion people live without access to reliable sources of energy. Without that, people cannot develop and there will always be a substantial proportion of the world’s population living in poverty.

“Our report found that the only way of reaching the vast majority of these populations is not via traditional grid-based electrification as found in the west, but via smaller scale, renewable off-grid solutions such as solar, hydro and wind.

“It is therefore vital that we follow the example set by the World Cup organisers and invest heavily in the new technology we are seeing used so well in Brazil.” 

A company that provided took its temporary seating solutions from London 2012 to the Brazil 2014 World Cup is one of the UK’s top exporters, according to research conducted by Richard Branson’s Fast Track agency for the Sunday Times. 

Arena Group began showcasing its innovative temporary seating systems in HOST CITY magazine in the run-up to London 2012, where it built the Populous-designed beach volleyball arena and provided seating for the weightlifting, boxing, fencing, table tennis and judo events. 

For the Brazil 2014 World Cup, Arena Group supplied two 9,000+ seat demountable grandstands for the Arena do Sao Paulo – the largest temporary structures in Brazil. Through a local partnership, it also installed seats for Salvador's World Cup stadium.

“The ranking is testament to the vision that we’ve had for the company since long before the London 2012 Olympics; to become a trusted, global provider of event overlay services and the highest quality temporary event infrastructure,” said Greg Lawless, CEO of Arena Group. 

“This international growth has been a fundamental part of the group’s strategic plan, and we have made acquisitions which have positioned us to secure contracts for the next generation of major international sporting events.”

Arena Group’s  two year average international sales growth reached 54 per cent, with international sales reaching £10.5m in 2012. The company is also the official overlay and temporary structures provider to Glasgow 2014.

HOST CITY has been profiling London 2012’s quiet revolution in the temporary overlay for many years, through interviews with the organising committee and its key suppliers in this area, including Arena Group and Populous.

“We would like to congratulate Arena Group on making the upper reaches of the International Track 200,”said Ben Avison, editor of HOST CITY magazine.

“It has been gratifying to see these temporary seating solutions being taken up by the organisers of the 2014 World Cup and we look forward to seeing this positive trend continue in future sustainable mega events.” 

The World Cup host city of Belo Horizonte has revealed plans for its fan fest, which will show matches and a programme of other world class entertainment for a live audience of up to 21,000 people for free.

Belo Horizonte’s announcement is in sharp contrast to problems elsewhere in Brazil. 

Providing a fan fest is a contractual obligation for all FIFA World Cup host cities. FIFA is still waiting for confirmation about whether the host city of Recife will be able to fulfil its obligation to provide a fan fest during the World Cup. Funding for the project has yet to be confirmed.

Salvador might also have to break its obligation to provide a fan fest, for similar reasons. The Secretary of Ecopa Salvador, the municipal office responsible for World Cup activities there, admitted last week that fulfilling the Fan Fest depends on the outcome of continuing sponsorship negotiations.

Belo Horizonte is hosting six World Cup matches, including a semi-final on 8th July. Its fan fest will be open on all match days in Belo Horizonte and every weekend during the World Cup. 

The site, encompassing three pavilions and located in the city’s 16,000 sq m Expominas centre, will host more than 40 events during the World Cup tournament in a celebration of Brazilian music, entertainment and cuisine. 

The programme will feature a selection of famous Brazilian musicians including Daniela Mercury, with at least one major national artist will perform every day. ABRASEL, Brazil’s association of bars and restaurants, has partnered with the fan fest to provide high quality catering including local specialities.

The fan fest site will also host the media centre for accredited and non-accredited journalists, with 84 working stations, free wifi, televisions for transmission of the games and a direct view of the Belo Horizonte fan fest arena. 

Work stations and leisure space will also be provided for all volunteers taking part in the World Cup project. Embassies and consulates of national teams competing in the tournament will also have a dedicated area onsite.

“We have spent a lot of time looking at how we can deliver the best visitor experience for all of the football fans that will come to Belo Horizonte and we believe that they will have a fantastic time celebrating this festival of football at our FIFA fan fest,” said Camillo Fraga, Municipal Secretary for the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil – Host City, Belo Horizonte.

“We have also invested in our local infrastructure to ensure that all of our visitors and residents will be able to move swiftly and safely from our fan fest site to the stadium and around our city. We cannot wait for this global football experience to start and welcoming fans from across the world to Belo Horizonte.”

The international media expresses prejudice within developed nations against the capacity of developing countries like Brazil to host global sports events, the country’s deputy sports minister said on Wednesday. 

Speaking at a press conference in response to a question from HOST CITY about the severe delays in Brazil’s preparations to host mega events, Luis Fernandes said “In sectors of the public opinion of richer countries, there is prejudice directed against developing countries and their capacity to deliver major global sporting events such as the World Cup and the Olympic Games.

“I’ll give you an example: We had a sad tragedy in the preparation for the World Cup in a city in Southern Brazil where there was a fire in a nightclub and in which a number of youngsters were killed. And sectors of the press, both international and national, took up that specific case to question Brazil’s capacity of organizing the World Cup and Olympic Games. 

“When similar accidents occurred in the UK, in France, in Russia, in China before hosting major global events, the same questioning or the same scepticism was not directed against those countries; so that is a prejudiced point of view from our perspective.”

HOST CITY asked if he thought that FIFA’s deadlines should be more lenient in certain countries where there may be a tendency for preparations to take longer. 

“We are not happy with whatever delays exist," Fernandes said. "It would have been better to have all World Cup stadiums delivered already by December 2013 so that we could, in sequence, test all aspects of operations of those stadiums throughout the first semester.

“We had two stadiums that were delivered late and that had more acute problems of delays; those were the stadiums in São Paulo and Curitiba, so that put extra pressure on our organizational capacity because we had to make a number of tests in parallel that would have been held easier and in a more calm fashion if they could have been done in sequence.”

Fernandes drew parallels with the Confederations Cup, preparations for which also ran behind schedule. “The same type of doubts or scepticism or prejudice also manifested itself with respect to the Confederations Cup, saying that Brazil wasn’t prepared to hold that event—and the event was a huge success.

“We also had stadiums that unfortunately were delivered late, but the operation was a success. So we already showed the world that we can organize such a competition efficiently and with success, although maybe, personally, the operational cost of organizing such an event is greater due to certain delays. 

“But our message is one of absolute confidence that we will have a spectacular World Cup here in Brazil starting two weeks on."

Speaking to a select group of international media including HOST CITY on Wednesday, Brazil’s deputy sports minister Luis Fernandes said the federal government should have worked more closely with the local organising committee in the earlier stages of preparing for the World Cup. 

The government also made the mistake of assuming that the Brazilian public would support the event and understand the benefits of hosting it, he said, acknowledging that these mistakes should not be repeated in the run up to the Olympic Games in 2016.

“We should have communicated more strongly the benefits that the World Cup brings to the country,” Fernandes said.

“I think basically we thought that the benefits were evident and that the World Cup addresses our main sport, which is football or soccer in the US, so that support and understanding of the benefits in the event would be almost automatic.

“That’s something that we will have to communicate stronger for the Olympic Games.”

The government should also have made it clearer that investments in civic infrastructure are not part of the cost of hosting the World Cup, Fernandes said. 

“In a lot of infrastructure investments, which are not essential for the event, but which the Brazilian government decided to anticipate, were sometimes understood as costs of the World Cup. 

“So, we’ve learned from that lesson and for the Olympic Games, we’re separating in our communications these two aspects. The matrix of responsibility will only include for the Olympic Games those investments that are specifically directed to the event, to the global sporting events.

“All communication about separate investments in infrastructure that will spur national and regional development are in a different plan, which is a plan for anticipation and exploration of investments in public policy. So, that’s maybe a lesson we learned from the World Cup experience.”

He also admitted that the federal government should have been more closely integrated with the local organising committee at an earlier stage.

“We were only included in the board of the local organising committees of representation of the federal government a little bit more than two years ago. I think that if we had been included from the very beginning, the level of integration in World Cup preparation would have been greater, and that would have been better.”

A secret report by the Brazilian government specifies security risks in half of Brazil’s 12 host cities. 

The concerns outlined in the report, which is based on consultation with members of the public and was leaked to O Globo, include the risk of strikes and protest.

Rio de Janeiro suffers from “a difficult relationship between public authorities and society”, the report says. And in Sao Paulo, a “potential problem” identified is a $25m budget cut for the military police.

The government is also concerned that civil servants could strike in Belo Horizonte, which might “fuel protests”.  In the northeast, unrest between farm workers and indigenous groups is mentioned as another area of concern. 

The report also says “opposition parties are attempting to wreck the image” of the Governor of Brasilia, Agnelo Queiroz. Concerns are also raised over the safety of teams and visitors, according to O Globo.

President Dilma Rousseff’s office described the report as preliminary and inconclusive, saying that the information published in O Globo was neither official nor verified. 

Brazil’s sports minister Aldo Rebelo has also played down such concerns. "The possibility of protest during the World Cup is very limited,” he told The Guardian on Monday. 

“People are more interested in celebrating the World Cup. Peaceful protests are protected by the constitution. Violent protests are forbidden by law and they are matters for the police to deal with."

Nonetheless, Brazilian authorities will be keen to pre-empt and avoid any potential for further civil unrest, in the wake of the striking and protesting that took place in several cities during last year’s Confederations Cup.

Security concerns are also highlighted by the announcement earlier this week that Brazil is to establish “no fly zones” of a 7km radius over each stadium on World Cup match days, despite major disruption to travel.

Security at the 2014 World Cup was high on the agenda at FIFA’s National Teams Workshop in Florianopolis on Thursday, with Brazilian officials announcing the deployment of 170,000 security professionals to ensure the safe hosting of the event.

The majority of these security personnel will come from the police and armed forces. Speaking at a FIFA press conference, Andrei Rodrigues, of the Brazilian Ministry of Justice’s special secretariat for security at major events (SESGE) said “150,000 public-security and armed-forces professionals will be involved, with SESGE investing BRL1.17b [USD 500m] and the Ministry of Defence some BRL708m [USD 300m].

“These are resources deployed solely for the purposes of providing security to the population on an everyday basis.”

In addition to this investment, the Local Organising Committee (LOC) announced that a further 20,000 workers from the private sector will be engaged in delivering event security. The LOC’s head of security Hilario Medeiros said “It is very clear that Brazil is ready in terms of its various organisations and private security, with some 20,000 men being trained in event security."

With the 2013 Confederations Cup having taken place amid scenes of serious civil unrest, the security secretariat is understandably worried about the potential for violence. Rodrigues said “We do have one major concern, which is not the fact that people might demonstrate, as they are just exercising their democratic right in doing so. Our concern is with any violence that occurs as part of those demonstrations.

“The Confederations Cup was an example of that. There was one day in June when there were more than one million people on the streets and we had more than 50,000 officers working. Even so, the competition schedule was not affected, the demonstrations did not impact on the delegations and there were no injuries caused by the actions of the officers.”

FIFA proud to be in Brazil
FIFA’s director of security Ralf Mutschke denied that last year’s protests were directed at the sports federation. “We saw some social unrest and vandalism at the FIFA Confederations Cup in 2013, but that does not mean to say that we are going to reduce our presence, hide ourselves away or keep our symbols under cover.

“We do not feel, in fact, that we are the main target of the demonstrators. Obviously the protests had something to do with the Confederations Cup and the fact that Brazil and the whole world was watching the competition. We don’t feel that we are the targets, though. Far from it: we are proud to be here in Brazil.”

A seasonal storm in the World Cup host city of Belo Horizonte damaged the Mineirao stadium over the weekend, Xinhua news agency reports.

Parts of the roof flew onto the pitch of the recently rebuilt stadium in Belo Horizonte just before a state championship match on Saturday.

Mineirao will host six matches during the 2014 FIFA World Cup and US$300 million have been spent on redeveloping the stadium.

Video footage published by Brazilian newspaper Folha de S. Paulo showed three metallic plates landing onto the pitch less than one hour before the match, according to Xinhua.

Such storms are not unusual at this time of year, according to a weather institute in the state of Minas Gerais. More than 10cm of rain had fallen in three hours, with winds of up to 36km per hour.

The manager of Cruziero football team, which played on Saturday’s match, complained of the standard of the pitch. According to Xinhua, he said "Questions have to be asked. Is this pitch up to FIFA standard? I think the quality needs to be better.”

Host City invited the Belo Horizonte World Cup Organising Committee to comment on the incident at Mineirao but has yet to receive a response.

FIFA Secretary General Jerome Valcke voiced concerns about the readiness of World Cup venues at a press conference at FIFA’s headquarters in Zurich on Saturday.

"We are almost at 100 days before the first game starts in a stadium in Sao Paulo which is still not ready and won't be ready until May 15. And as you know another two stadiums [in Curitiba and Manaus] are quite late.

"For sure, the stadiums are beautiful but now it is a challenge for the organisers. And that is not a criticism. It is just a challenge. We have to find the solutions."