Fifa's chief stated that, even though Brazil was the only candidate, the requirements of the federation were the same as if there was a competition between countries. "It was a true challenge for Fifa to have the same list of requirements, the same recommendations and the same pre-conditions to be met by a single candidate," he claimed.
Blatter praised the presentation given by the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) and said that the event will have a huge social and cultural impact on the country.
Fifa has also announced that Germany will host the 2011 female football World Cup. The country, which hosted the 2006 World Cup, was running up against Canada to host the female event.
Blatter declared that all presentations were of the highest possible quality and highlighted the global importance of football.
The president of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, went to Zurich to attend the event, by invitation of the president at CBF, Ricardo Teixeira.
From August 23rd to September 1st, Fifa inspectors visited five Brazilian capitals and watched presentations about 13 other capitals, all of them interested in hosting World Cup games. They got to know the cities' stadiums and infrastructure, and last week they published a report, in which they already signaled that Brazil is capable of hosting the 2014 World Cup.
This will be Brazil's second time hosting the World Cup. The first was in 1950, when the Brazilian national football team lost the final match to Uruguay in the Maracanã stadium. Afterwards, the country won the world title five times (1958, 1962, 1970, 1994, and 2002).
ABr