The Arena da Baixada in Curitiba, Brazil, will host matches during this year’s World Cup (Picture: AP Photo)

Another week and another life lost. Is death not too high a price to pay to host a football tournament?

Certainly it appears not in the eyes of the Brazilian government, it’s national football association nor Fifa.

Muhammad Ali Maciel was a 32-year-old man working on installing the information and communication networks within the Arena Pantana in Cuiaba when he was electrocuted and despite the best efforts on a medical team he died.

Muhammad’s death means that eight people have now lost their lives during the preparations for the competition which kicks off five weeks from now.


This is a truly appalling statistic and should shame the organizing committee of Brazil 2014, a tourney which will now be forever be tainted by such tragedies.



The pressure to ensure everything is up and running appears to be leading to shortcuts and required safety steps overlooked, it’s a mad rush where the health and welfare of those behind the scenes is not considered just as long as the stadia are all in prime condition for the arrival of the multi-millionaire pampered footballers from all four corners of the globe.

As a football lover this sickens me.

But it’s not only me that finds this all depressing, Brazil is arguably the most football-mad nation on earth, and yet in the last year thousands of Brazilians have regularly taken to the streets campaigning against the hosting of the competition.

Their major gripe is that a fortune is being spent on preparation for the World Cup but not enough is being done to improve the infrastructure of many of the cities where matches will be played, surely if money can be found to rebuild football stadiums it can also be found to provide decent accommodation for those unfortunate souls who reside in the infamous favelas?

The Mineirao stadium in Belo Horizonte will also host games (Picture: AP)

When Brazilians begin to voice their opposition to their nation holding the biggest football competition in the world then you know something must seriously be wrong.

Sadly though, awful the tally of deaths in Brazil is, it pales into significance when the spotlight is turned on Qatar’s preparations for the World Cup of 2022.

A truly frightening 997 workers have died since constructions began in January 2012 with 142 having lost their lives this year.

The majority of these people are migrants from India and Nepal, paid pittance for their labours, it really is further evidence that the decision to award the tiny oil-rich Arabian state the competition was a ridiculous one in which the fear of major bribes playing a part simply cannot be considered as just conspiratorial.

Football is the world’s most loved sport because it is a simple game which brings together many cultures and the World Cup should always be viewed as a month long jamboree where people are entertained by the very best each participating nation can offer.

Sadly though it appears the value of life is not deemed more important to that of money.

Just ask the family of poor Mohammad Ali Maciel.

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