14 DAY TRIAL // What's the point of having a football championship in Brazil, if over half of the local population can't afford the price of the tickets for most of the matches? This is the question that legendary French footballer Eric Cantona poses in his new hour-long documentary “Looking for Rio.”
The former athlete makes a valid point when he claims that the Brazilians have been “thrown away” by organizers of the 2014 FIFA World Cup with pricey tickets for football matches. He notes that all the money spent on stadiums, some of which got lost on the way because of corruption, could have been used better for aiding the local population.
“The people don't understand how it costs so much, and they are angry because they know that a lot of money has been taken through corruption and the costs also,” Cantona says and rhetorically asks, “Why not spend the money for education, hospitals?”
He pities the Brazilians who “cannot go anymore to the stadium because it is too expensive” and speaks out against the organizers, who “just throw them away and bring people who can pay the tickets.”
The documentary shows the ex-footballer as also taking his problems up with human rights organization Amnesty International, ahead of the Cup's debut on June 12. His position is rather unusual in the football world, where most former practitioners take active measures in promoting it and praising its benefits.
“Looking for Rio” is going to premiere at the first-ever football film festival, Sidelines, set to take place in London, June 7. It's expected to make a big impact and also deal a massive PR blow to the World Cup which starts only a few days later.
In the film, Cantona also addresses the issue of having the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. The athlete wonders, “I just cannot understand why they gave the World Cup to Qatar if it is not for money.”
He explains his point of view by adding, “In giving the World Cup to Qatar they show the world that they don't really care about the sport. In Qatar there is no hope, because people from Qatar, they don't play football.”
After this, Cantona points out that a good deal of the country's population lives in poverty and won't be able to appreciate the sporting event at its true value: “80% of the people, they work for the other ones, sleeping in - you know - like small areas, so many of them, some of them died, they work for those other ones.”
