The FIFA World Cup "may be great for planet football," but it is not so good for planet Earth. FIFA said that the '14 tournament, which will require huge amounts of air travel to venues across Brazil, "will produce the equivalent of 2.72 million metric tons of carbon dioxide." That means staging the month-long tournament "will produce as much carbon dioxide as 560,000 passenger cars do in one year" (AP, 12/9). ... FIFA has "amended kickoff times" of seven World Cup matches. Italy vs. England, which was due to have started at 3am central Europe time, in the Amazon venue of Manaus, "will now kick off three hours early at 6pm local time." Belgium vs. Russia will start at 1pm local time in Rio de Janeiro, instead of 7pm, "which would have required European viewers to stay up beyond midnight." Likewise, defending champion Spain's clash with Chile in Rio has been moved from 7pm local time to three hours earlier (INSIDE WORLD FOOTBALL, 12/9). ... Sydney Opera House will host the draw for the Asian Football Confederation Asian Cup 2015, "the biggest football tournament ever staged in Australia, on March 26." The draw "will be televised live throughout Asia." It "will attract around 300 VIPs and officials" from the AFC and the 16 competing teams (WORLD FOOTBALL INSIDER, 12/6).
