17th April, 2013
A top FIFA official says the international football organisation will be stepping up security for the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil as a result of the bombings at the Boston Marathon on Monday.
FIFA Secretary-General Jerome Valcke said during a visit to Haiti that the security measures will include secret service agents, police officers, military, and Interpol. He also says a perimeter will be set up around stadia and a satellite will provide surveillance over the country.
Valcke made the remarks yesterday at a news conference at the headquarters of the Haitian soccer association. He was part of a FIFA delegation led by FIFA President Sepp Blatter.
Meanwhile, the world football governing body said that it will intensify its monitoring of the stadia being prepared for the upcoming Confederations Cup after local organisers delayed the finish date of the venue hosting the opening match in Brasilia.
Soccer’s governing body also reiterated that such delays “will not be tolerated’’ ahead of the 2014 World Cup.
A day after the delay announced in Brasilia and less than two months before the Confederations Cup, FIFA met with local officials and the local 2014 World Cup organising committee in the nation’s capital and announced it will make a new inspection visit at the Estadio Nacional in two weeks.
The stadium was expected to be open Sunday, but problems with the field forced organisers to change the date to 18 May, just three days before FIFA takes over all six Confederations Cup venues.
“FIFA and the LOC demonstrated concern with the tight deadlines and the short period available for the test events that guarantee the operational success of events with the size of the FIFA Confederations Cup,’’ FIFA and the local organizing committee said in a joint statement.
“The daily and on-site monitoring of the stadium construction works and the hiring and assembling of the temporary structures by the LOC operational teams already working in the six FCC host cities will be also intensified,’’ they said.