In 2007, when the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) announced that Brazil would sponsor the 2014 World Cup, the soccer-mad country was euphoric. That celebratory spirit degenerated into widespread protests throughout the country last year and again this month as the quadrennial event got under way. Although the pageantry of the opening ceremony and Brazil's 3-1 victory over Croatia in the tournament's first match followed the script that Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff and FIFA may have wanted for one of the world's most widely televised events, demonstrations in the streets outside the stadiums suggest the current of discontent is getting stronger.
Two years after Brazil was chosen to host the World Cup, municipal and state governments presented the federal government with a list of public-works projects for the sponsoring cities. After feasibility studies were conducted for the short-listed programs, federal funds began to flow to those same governments.