Caindo na armadilha: a Copa do Mundo como estratégia de Estado no século XXI

Abstract

Since 2002, many nations from four continents have accepted the challenge to spend some billion of dollars in the purpose of hosting the World Cup of soccer. Brazil alone is estimated to have spent an amount between R$ 25,5 billion and R$ 28 billion to host the World Cup of 2014. In this work, both the reasons in favour and against hosting the tournament will be measured: in the one hand, the sport’s capacity on allowing the governments to alter the national identity and insert themselves in the International Community, added to a supposed possibility to use this mega event with the intent of providing development, should direct the governments towards the decision of hosting the World Cup; in the other hand, the corruption and the heavy demands of Fifa, added to the lack of planning and transparency from the governments, turn this decision onerous to the public treasury and to the society.