The recent comment by the number two official of FIFA has revived the debate on the beer ban in Brazil. On Tuesday, FIFA Secretary General Jerome Valcke expressed his concerns in a televised interview about the level of drunkenness in Brazil following the world soccer body's special consideration to sell alcohol at World Cup venues. Valcke also pointed the link between inebriation and violence.
He said through a Portugues translator to Brazil's sports television network SporTV, "(Alcohol sales are) something we have to look at. If we think that it is necessary to control (alcohol sales) we will control them. We would never put the organization of a match at risk. I was amazed by the number of people who were drunken and the level of alcohol (in Brazil). I was a bit surprised."
Valcke's turnaround regarding in-stadium beer sales was validated with the apparent increase of fan violence in the tournament so far, NDTV reported. On Saturday, the Colombia-Uruguay match in Rio de Janeiro was marred by fan violence, which required stewards to intervene and separate the hostile spectators. Inebriated Argentine fans who celebrated the team's victory over Iran last June 21 resulted to a dust-up in the central Brazilian city of Belo Horizonte.
Brazil has since banned sales of alcohol at soccer matches in 2003 in the hopes that it would curb fan violence. However, FIFA has insisted the host nation to lift the ban for the latter to host the month-long tournament, as beer company Budweiser is the world soccer body's tournament organizer and major sponsor. Opposing lawmakers who did not see good in lifting the alcohol ban reportedly led to the delay of the passage of the World Cup law that would give FIFA legal and financial guarantees to organize the event. NDTV said the issue has been a major source of friction between Brazilian government and FIFA officials.
On the other hand, it would be interesting who FIFA would be able to appease its sponsors in the next World Cup, as host country Qatar has forbidden alcohol consumption in public.
