According to Dane, the economic viability of such major sporting events for the host country is fundamentally questionable. Incredible promises were made prior to the World Cup, yet for the most part, they have not been kept. Especially in the area of infrastructure, many opportunities have been missed. “I am very skeptical that economically, there will be any significant changes for Brazil” said the head of the KAS office in Brazil in an interview. At the same time, however, it must be noted that the World Cup went better than expected and that the socio-political discourse in the country had a positive effect.

Beyond the World Cup atmosphere, however, the situation in the favelas, which exist in almost all major cities, remains difficult. “On the one hand the situation there is precarious due to security being affected by the drug war and drug trafficking that predominate. On the other, many of them have been occupied by the military to pacify the situation.” Even though the demonstrations that made the headlines long before the World Cup began have died down, they continue to take place. “Across the country, somewhere every day there is a demonstration, but they have become very small. Naturally due to the World Cup, everything non-football related has come to a standstill so these underlying issues have not been discussed”. Ever since Brazil so dramatically was kicked out of the tournament, questions such as why the tournament ended up being so expensive are beginning to be asked again. Therefore, one must assume that similar protests will follow.

Whether the mood in the country will have any impact on what takes place in October´s presidential elections remains to be seen. Even though Dilma Rousseff, President of Brazil, has fallen in popularity with voters, she remains the favourite for re-election anyway, partly due to the opposition´s inability to capitalize. “The whole political class has suffered in public opinion polls” said Dane, therefore Rousseff continues to be the frontrunner.

The whole interview in German can be found here.

With the kind support of inforadio