BRASILIA: A senior congressman steering the contentious and long-delayed World Cup law through the Brazilian parliamentary system has thrown another spanner into the works over ticket prices.

This came just as Brazil’s controversial football supremo, Ricardo Teixeira, took leave of absence on medical grounds from his posts at the head of the CBF and the World Cup organising authority for the third time in four months.

The text of the Law was approved by the steering commission last Tuesday following heavy and sharp-tempered pressure having been applied by FIFA president Sepp Blatter and secretary-general Jerome Valcke.

The text includes a compromise over the sale of alcohol in staduia during the finals – currently prohibited under Brazilian laws – and on ticket prices. In the latter case congressman refused to override another law which insists on tickets for major events being sold at half-price to pensioners.

However the Sao Paulo Deputy Candido Vaccarezza, who is deputy chairman of congress, has found a new hitch which may dismal Blatter and Valcke.

He said: “It is obligatory under Brazilian law that tickets must be sold at half-price to pensioners but that must also apply to the sale of tourist packages because the visiting fans will be coming here under the terms of the laws in our country.”

As for Teixeira, under permanent scrutiny and attack over a series of commercial scandals, he has been temporarily replaced as acting CBF president by Jose Maria Marin. This move may prompt a rebellion within the CBF by a number of regional federations who have long opposed to Marin’s status in the  hjierarchy under Teixeira.