Organisation for the 2014 World Cup has faced verbal attack from a number of high profile individuals, including FIFA general secretary Jérôme Valcke, who recently said that there is still "a lot of work to deliver" to have the competition ready in time.

Further concerns emerged earlier this month as the official match schedule for the competition was unveiled and showed that some teams will have to fly over 6,000 kilometres (3,728.2 miles) across the huge country just to play just their three group matches in complete contrasting climates.

But Nuzman feels that event will be a huge success and said that with Rio set to host a number of matches at the 2014 World Cup at the magnificent Estádio do Maracanã (pictured), including the World Cup final, the investment in the city for the event is a major help ahead of the 2016 Games.


"The World Cup will be a major success in Brazil, I have no doubt about that despite what people say," Nuzman told insidethegames here at the Pan American Games.

"It will be a fantastic event, especially in a country that loves football as much as Brazil.

"From our point of view as Rio 2016, there will be World Cup football matches in Rio de Janeiro so the organisation for that will be a huge help to us.

"The football stadium that we will also use in 2016 will have to be ready and complete by 2014 and a large part of the infrastructure developments in the city will be started by them, which takes a lot of pressure of us.

"We have very good relations with the 2014 organising committee.

"We are separate but our relationship is fantastic.

"So I think that having the 2014 competition two years before is very good for us and fantastic for Rio and Brazil, not only for the fantastic competition but because of the investment and improvement it is bringing to all the people."


The iconic Estádio do Maracanã, which was the centrepiece for the 2007 Pan American Games in Rio (pictured), is currently closed for renovations and upgrades, and will eventually reach a total capacity of around 85,000.

It is scheduled to reopen in 2013 shortly before hosting the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup, the 2014 World Cup, the 2015 Copa America and the 2016 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Opening and Closing Ceremonies.

"This Stadium will be one of the icons of both the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympic Games because it is such a fantastic stadium," Nuzman said.

"It is good for us that it will be ready and tested for 2014 World Cup and I know that it will be one of the things that shocks the world about Brazil, just like the Bird's Nest stadium in Beijing in 2008."

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