RIO DE JANEIRO: Marco Polo Del Nero, Brazilian successor in FIFA to disgraced Ricardo Teixeira, is poised to take control of the Brazilian confederation unopposed next month writes KEIR RADNEDGE.

Del Nero is expected to be the only candidate on April 16 at the CBF congress when Jose Maria Marin steps down.

Marin, 82 in May, was senior vice-president when Teixeira – former son-in-law of ex-FIFA boss Joao Havelange – fled the country for a new life in Miami under pressure of scandal at home and abroad.

The last straw for Teixeira, who had at one stage envisaged a run for the FIFA presidency, was confirmation that he and Havelange had received millions of dollars in illicit payments from the bankrupt former FIFA marketing partner ISL.

Marin stepped up as interim president of the CBF while Del Nero, head of the Sao Paulo federation, was chosen by the South American football federation (CONMEBOL) to have over Teixeira’s place on the FIFA executive committee.

World Cup hosting

Del Nero is now expected to succeed Marin at the head of the Brazilian game, just in time for the hosting of the World Cup finals in June and July.

Final touches to political plans were put together at the formal reopening of the Granja Comary training centre in Teresopolis, near Rio de Janeiro, which will be the Brazilian squad’s World Cup base.

More than 60 directors from the various state football federations around Brazil were present for the event along with national coach Luiz Felipe Scolari.

Marin said that the refurbishment of Granja Comary guaranteed ‘security, privacy and comfort’ for players and coaches of the Seleção.

The £4m work, which has taken 10 months, means the centre now comprises new medical department and dressing rooms, two state-of-the-art gymnasia, a swimming pool for treatment therapies, barber shop, auditorium, cafeteria and three pitches of FIFA World Cup standard.

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