in the first leg of the play-off battle to
become one of the 32 teams that will
travel to Brazil next year. On a visit to
the Brazilian Embassy in Paris on
Thursday 7 November, Ronaldo, a
member of the Local Organising
Committee (LOC), joked about how
France are Brazil's "bogey team" and
declared that next year's tournament
will be the greatest FIFA World Cup™
of all time.
Also present at the meeting were
Brazilian Minister of Sport Aldo Rebelo,
French Minister of Sport Valerie
Fourneyron, French Minister of
Foreign Trade Nicole Bricq, and the
Brazilian Ambassador to France, Jose
Mauricio Bustani.
FIFA.com brings you the key
statements from the event below.
Local Organising Committee (LOC)
member Ronaldo
"It's a pleasure to return to Paris. We
have a really good relationship with
France, although maybe not in terms
of football, after the last few defeats
we've suffered (laughs). My connection
with Paris goes way back. I won a
trophy here with Inter Milan, and had
surgery on both my knees in the city.
Now I'm involved in an even bigger
challenge as a member of the LOC. I
played in four World Cups, but I had no
idea how complicated it was to
organise such an event. We've already
achieved many of our goals, and the
Confederations Cup was a big success.
But we have to keep going. There is so
much more to do.
I'm sure that the FIFA World Cup in
Brazil will be the best ever. So buy
your tickets now, and come and watch
the World Cup at the home of football!
I'm going to cheer for France against
Ukraine, so that we can overcome the
jinx and beat the French next year in
Brazil (laughs)."
Brazilian Minister of Sport Aldo
Rebelo
"The World Cup will have 12 host
cities. Brazil is a country the size of a
continent and so we will have games
from Amazonas to Porto Alegre. Six of
the 12 stadiums are already up and
running, and the other six will be
finished by the end of December.
Expectations are high because we've
played in every World Cup and won
five out of the 19 tournaments. And we
have the highest goal scorer in World
Cup history, though we mustn't forget
that the top scorer in one of the
competitions, Just Fontaine, was
French."
French Minister of Sport Valerie
Fourneyron
"It's impossible to forget the 1998 FIFA
World Cup. It was a moment that
brought the whole country together,
and all football fans remember it so
clearly. We felt such pride, and the
sense of togetherness that you
sometimes get at sporting events really
made a difference to people's lives.
It was a moment of true social and
economic dynamism. This is what we
are hoping for in Brazil, that the whole
country can share this wonderful
experience together. And of course I
hope France qualify so that we can see
each other again in Brazil."
Sent from my BlackBerry wireless device from MTN
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