PARIS: Brazilian Sports Minister Aldo Rebelo has compared hosting the World Cup with a wedding: the bride might be delayed but the couple would still live happily ever after.

Rebelo, vising the Brazilian embassy in Paris, said that the government could guarantee the delivery of more than 90pc of the infrastructure promised for the finals.

He said: “I know of no wedding that did not happen because the bride did not arrive on time. Delayed, that’s all, and the wedding always take place. The World Cup will happen.”

Rebelo arrived on Wednesday for a series of meetings with local business leaders and entrepreneurs interested in developing business during the World Cup and the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

He played down concerns about deadlines and security. Rebelo said: “These will be the safest World Cup and the Olympic Games in history.”

He also insisted there was no danger about some of the stadia becoming “white elephants” and not being used after the World Cup. This prospect had been raised by the low average attendance at state championship matches in Amazonas and Mato Grosso.

Rebelo said: “There is no reason why the stadiums become white elephants. Any, the elephant is not part of the vast and diverse fauna of our country.”

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