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Brazil named as 2014 World Cup hosts
ZURICH (AFP) - Brazil, the only runner in the race, were officially unveiled as the 2014 World Cup hosts by FIFA president Sepp Blatter here Tuesday.
Blatter announced Brazil as the venue after the sole candidate's final presentation to FIFA's executive committee with Brazil president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in attendance.
"Football is not only a sport, it's a passion," said Lula following the announcement which sparked celebrations around the south American country.
The president quipped that Brazil would work so hard at making the tournament a success that no one from Argentina, their fierce south American football rivals, would be able to fault it.
"Brazil will fulfil its mission, and I defy any Argentine to find fault with it," added Lula.
As well as being given the chance to showcase their country during international football's showpiece event, Brazilians will be looking forward to finally ending a lengthy hoodoo.
The five-time world champions have staged the World Cup once before, in 1950, but lost the final 2-1 to Uruguay in front of a near 200,000 crowd at the Maracana stadium in Rio de Janeiro.
A complete renovation of that mythic venue featured as one of the key proposals in Brazil's 2014 bid.
The South American football giants' promised an environmentally friendly World Cup.
Ricardo Teixeira, president of the Brazilian Football Confederation, said hosting the World Cup would be "a great joy and an historic achievement for the country and the Brazilian people, which will have an impact both on the social and economic level".
He added: "This World Cup will leave a permanent legacy" with improvements to transport, health, sewage and water systems as well as security, he noted.
He was joined on the platform by the governor of the Amazon region, Eduardo Braga, who promised that it would "contribute to the lasting development and would help the people and the conservation of this irreplaceable environmental heritage.
"The World Cup in Brazil will be the first mega world event to unite millions of people with the conservation of global warming and the reduction of climate change."
UEFA president Michel Platini welcomed Brazil as 2014 hosts.
The boss of European football's governing body said: "Brazil is the country that has given most to football, it's the biggest football nation in the world which has won the most World Cups. A World Cup in Brazil is like going on a pilgrimage to Mecca ... or Jerusalem."
Venues and the precise amount of budget laid aside for the hosting of the event are two major issues which will be tackled "in the months and years ahead", a member of the Brazil delegation told AFP.
International football's governing body FIFA had supported Brazil as the sole candidate after an inspection of potential sites.
"It would be appropriate to choose Brazil as the host nation for the 2014 World Cup," said FIFA's inspection group in the report last month.
"Brazil has proved its potential and shown itself capable of organising an exceptional FIFA World Cup".
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