RIO DE JANEIRO: Brazil has scrapped a plan to bid to host the FIFA Club World Cup for lack of support from re-elected President Dilma Rousseff and her government.

Rousseff may feel she has seen and been involved with quite enough of international football, its finances and its politics to last here the entirety of her second term in office.

Back in March the Brazilian football confederation considered bidding for the 2017 and 2018 tournaments to use stadia built or rebuilt for the World Cup this past summer and the 2013 Confederations Cup.

The idea was to maintain the international sports momentum generated by the Confed Cup, the World Cup and the Rio 2016 Olympic Games and ahead of Brazil’s hosting of the 2019 Copa America.

FIFA indicated in September that interested nations should register an interest but by then the mood had changed. Rousseff had gone public with her criticism of the management of domestic while CBF president Jose Maria Marin had stated openly that he would not be voting for her in the presidential election.

Hence no government guarantees would be forthcoming and thus no bid was possible. CBF president-elect Marco Polo Del Nero has been reported by the Brazilian media as saying: “It’s a non-starter.”

The 2014 finals will be staged next month in Morocco.

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