The sporting test

Brazil’s pitch to hold the 2014 World Cup and 2016 summer Olympics was based in part on natural justice: South America last held the football tournament in 1978 (in Argentina) and has never hosted an Olympics. And in part on “best-ever” boasts: it regards itself as the spiritual home of the Beautiful Game; and Rio de Janeiro, which will host the Olympics, claims to hold the world’s most festive mega-events. Locals, it promised, will enjoy a lasting legacy too.

During 2013 it will become clear whether the boasts will be justified. Will the infrastructure be ready, after decades of neglect, to transport fans between the World Cup’s 12 host cities? The stadiums, at least, should be ready—though at most only six in time for the 2013 Confederations Cup “dress rehearsal”. The bad news: they will cost a packet, and fans will get to them only if host cities keep Brazilians off the roads by closing schools and offices on match days. Neither São Paulo’s international airport nor its domestic one will have train connections before the city hosts the opening game.

Too much pride is at stake to hope 2013 will see a rethink

Deciding to have 12 host cities, when eight would have sufficed, means that Brazil will be lumbered with a herd of white elephants after the tournament. Four cities have no good local team; crowds in Brasília and Manaus barely make it to four figures. Too much pride is at stake to hope 2013 will see a rethink. In March 2012, the general-secretary of FIFA, the sport’s global governing body, said Brazil needed “a kick up the backside”. Brazil’s government gave him the silent treatment for months. He now restricts himself to bland optimism.

The Olympics legacy is a bit more promising: Rio has two years longer to prepare and is one of few cities that could have twice as many hotels and entertainment venues without exhausting demand. Visitors in 2013 will still be stuck in crummy, costly accommodation, but by the end of the year 13,000 new hotel rooms will be under construction. Transport plans favour Barra da Tijuca, a posh suburb that will house the Olympic village: it will get a high-speed bus link to Galeão, the city’s international airport, during 2013, and a metro line to the city centre and the famous beaches in time for the games. Other districts will have to wait their turn. The gangs that control most of the city’s slums tend to call off the mayhem during New Year and Carnival celebrations; organisers are betting that the Olympics will be the same. And just in case, police are moving into the slums near venues and tourist haunts.

Though Brazil has risen to economic prominence in recent years (hence the B in the BRICs), Brazilians often complain that foreigners think the local language is Spanish and that Buenos Aires is the capital. The mega-events should correct such basic errors—as well as giving Brazilians the chance to display their friendliness and alegria da vida. If they can also prove that the country can budget, schedule and manage grand projects, then Brazil could at last shake off the cruel old tag, attributed to Charles de Gaulle, that it is “not a serious country”.

Helen Joyce: São Paulo correspondent, The Economist