Valcke says Marin is going through "a difficult time"

247 - FIFA Secretary General Jérôme Valcke commented in an interview published this Sunday on the situation of the president of the CBF (Brazilian Football Confederation), José Maria Marin, who has been involved in several controversies since taking over the leadership of the organization – and the Local Organizing Committee for the 2014 World Cup. "I know that Mr. Marin is going through a difficult time in Brazil. Each day it becomes a little more difficult, harder," commented Valcke. interview to the newspaper O Globo. Recently, an online petition for Marin's removal from the CBF surpassed 50 signatures.

In addition to Marin's close ties to the military regime (read more in At the height of torture and imprisonment, Marin praises Fleury.The president of the CBF (Brazilian Football Confederation) has been accused of illegal activities, which are mainly reflected in the criticisms of Congressman Romário (PSB-RJ). "Surprisingly, dear parliamentary colleagues, but in typical gangster language, he threatens two businessmen," Romário said last Friday, drawing attention to a video circulating online that allegedly shows Marin threatening the Balsinelli brothers, owners of BWA, "a company that, according to the same audio, controls business in most Brazilian stadiums," Romário continued.Listen to the audio in question.).

"José Maria Marin has instructed – or implored – the Balsinelli brothers that his name never be mentioned, under penalty of exposing the scheme in which they are all involved, including, of course, Marin himself and, by extension, his vice-president, Marco Polo del Nero," Romário described. According to Valcke, "it's not an easy situation," but Marin "is a Brazilian problem." "We respect individual rights. We know that President Marin's situation is not good with Romário, the media, and Congress, and we are monitoring it. If necessary, this will be the subject of discussion between Marin and FIFA," he commented.

Valcke says it "would be bad" if the government had to interfere in any way as a consequence of the controversies involving Marin. "I have never heard any comments, nor any desire from the government to intervene. [Sports Minister] Aldo Rebelo knows perfectly well what governments shouldn't do with football associations. I don't think they want to intervene," he said. Would he talk to Romário about the attacks on Marin? "I don't think Romário wants to talk to me. I don't think I'm at the top of his list of people he likes," replies the FIFA Secretary General.

Itaquerão

In the interview, Valcke also expresses concern about the situation of the Itaquerão stadium, whose construction is threatened by a lack of funding from the BNDES (Brazilian Development Bank).read more"Now is the time to wait for São Paulo to confirm that it will be ready on time. I hate when they start talking about possibilities. That only creates more problems. We have a fact, it's not an easy situation, but we're going to try to resolve it. Only then will we make a decision," he said, noting that the deadline for the delivery of the São Paulo stadium is December 31st.