• Skip to content
  • Skip to navigation

Grant Thornton uses cookies to monitor the performance of this website and improve user experience

To find out more about cookies, what they are and how we use them, please see our privacy notice, which also provides information on how to delete cookies from your hard drive.

Global site
  • Global site
  • Algeria
  • Botswana
  • Cameroon
  • Egypt
  • Ethiopia
  • Gabon
  • Guinea
  • Kenya
  • Libya
  • Malawi
  • Mauritius
  • Morocco
  • Nigeria
  • Namibia
  • Senegal
  • South Africa
  • Togo
  • Tunisia
  • Uganda
  • Zambia
  • Zimbabwe
  • Anguilla
  • Antigua
  • Argentina
  • Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao and St. Maarten
  • Barbados
  • Bolivia
  • Brazil
  • British Virgin Islands
  • Canada LLP
  • Canada RCGT
  • Cayman Islands
  • Chile
  • Colombia
  • Costa Rica
  • Ecuador
  • El Salvador
  • Grenada
  • Guatemala
  • Honduras
  • Mexico
  • Montserrat
  • Nicaragua
  • Panama
  • Paraguay
  • Peru
  • Puerto Rico
  • St Kitts
  • St Lucia
  • St Vincent and the Grenadines
  • Trinidad & Tobago
  • United States
  • Uruguay
  • Venezuela
  • Turks & Caicos
  • Afghanistan
  • Australia
  • Bangladesh
  • Cambodia
  • China
  • Hong Kong
  • India
  • Indonesia
  • Japan
  • Korea
  • Malaysia
  • Mongolia
  • Myanmar
  • New Zealand
  • Pakistan
  • Philippines
  • Singapore
  • Taiwan
  • Thailand
  • Vietnam
  • Albania
  • Armenia
  • Austria
  • Azerbaijan
  • Belarus
  • Belgium
  • Bosnia and Herzegovina
  • Bulgaria
  • Channel Islands
  • Croatia
  • Cyprus
  • Czech Republic
  • Denmark
  • Estonia
  • Finland
  • France
  • Georgia
  • Germany
  • Gibraltar
  • Greece
  • Hungary
  • Iceland
  • Ireland
  • Isle of Man
  • Israel
  • Italy - Bernoni
  • Italy - Ria
  • Kazakhstan
  • Kosovo
  • Kyrgyzstan
  • Latvia
  • Liechtenstein
  • Lithuania
  • Luxembourg
  • Macedonia
  • Malta
  • Moldova
  • Monaco
  • Netherlands
  • Northern Ireland
  • Norway
  • Poland
  • Portugal
  • Romania
  • Russia
  • Serbia
  • Slovak Republic
  • Slovenia
  • Spain
  • Sweden
  • Switzerland
  • Tajikistan
  • Turkey
  • Ukraine
  • UK
  • Uzbekistan
  • Bahrain
  • Egypt
  • Jordan
  • Kuwait
  • Oman
  • Qatar
  • Saudi Arabia
  • United Arab Emirates
  • Yemen
  • Lebanon
Grant Thorton Logo

Grant Thornton Logo Grant Thornton logo

Contact us
  • Insights
  • Services
  • Industries
  • Meet our people
  • About Us
  • Location
  • Careers
  • Webinars
  • Audit and Assurance
  • Financial Reporting Advisory Services
  • Tax
  • Advisory
  • Scrutineering Service
  • Business Process Outsourcing
  • Country Desks
Financial Reporting Advisory Services Home
  • Financial Reporting Solutions
  • IFRS/FRS Advisory
  • Lease Accounting
Tax Home
  • Corporate Tax Compliance
  • Tax Advisory
  • Goods and Services tax (GST)
  • Transfer pricing
  • Employer solutions
  • Private client services
Advisory Home
  • Corporate finance
  • Forensic advisory
  • Restructuring & insolvency
  • Business Risk Advisory
Country Desks Home
  • Japan Desk
  • China Desk
  • Energy & resources
  • Financial services
  • Real estate & construction
  • Technology, media & telecommunications
  • Experienced hires
  • Students and Graduates
  • Working at Grant Thornton
  1. Grant Thornton Singapore
  2. Press releases
  3. 2014
  4. Legacy of World Cup questioned

Legacy of World Cup questioned

09 Jun 2014
  • Legacy of World Cup questioned

Brazilian businesses substitute hope for doubt over World Cup legacy

With the FIFA World Cup due to kick off in Sao Paulo on 12 June, new research from the Grant Thornton International Business Report (IBR) has found that Brazilian business enthusiasm for hosting the tournament has plummeted over the past two years. However, while few business leaders predict increased investment or increased profits as a result of Brazil hosting the competition, there is hope that infrastructure improvements and a greater influx of tourists will prove enduring legacies.

The IBR reveals that the proportion of Brazilian business leaders who believe hosting the World Cup would translate into faster economic growth has fallen from 80% in Q1-2012 to just 33% by Q1-2014. Similarly, just 11% of businesses currently plan to make extra investment for the tournament, compared to 23% in 2012. A further 19% of businesses expect their profits to rise, with 52% expecting the tourism sector to see the biggest pick-up in activity.

Madeleine Blankenstein, partner, Grant Thornton Brazil, commented:
“Business enthusiasm for the World Cup has certainly ebbed away as the economic situation in Brazil has worsened over the past 24 months. Initially there was much hope in the business community that the infrastructure investments required to get the country ready to  receive 600,000 visitors this summer - not to mention those coming for the Olympic Games in 2016 - would boost the long-term growth prospects of the economy. This should have been an opportunity to place Brazil in the international ‘shop window’, but instead international media attention has been focused on delays in stadia construction and public protests against both the government and FIFA."  

More than two in five business leaders expect infrastructure investments - particularly those in the transport sector - to be the most enduring legacy of the games (42%), with a further quarter expecting a greater influx of tourists (26%). However, almost a third believe construction in their city has disrupted daily life and just 40% believe their local stadium will be well used once the tournament is over.

Madeleine Blankenstein added:
“Like the Bird's Nest in Beijing and Cape Town's Green Park Stadium, it is hard to see the Amazonas Stadium in Manaus being well used after the tournament but there are good examples to follow to avoid the stadia falling into disuse, particularly that of east London following the 2012 Olympic Games. The event allowed this previously derelict part of the UK capital to be modernized and it has subsequently attracted significant commercial and residential investment.

"Unfortunately some of the improvements in and around the stadia will come too late for the World Cup in Brazil. However there is now an increased awareness in government and in the private sector of the infrastructure shortfall and what needs to be done firstly to get the county ready for the Olympic Games and secondly for sustainable growth to become a reality."

– ends –

View the infographic in English, Spanish or Portuguese

John Vita 

Director of Public Relations and External Affairs

T +1 312 602 8955

Dominic King,  Research Manager, dominic.king@gti.gt.com, +44 (0)20 7391 9537

Share this page
  • Facebook LinkedIn
  • Twitter Twitter
  • LinkedIn LinkedIn
  • Grant Thornton on Youtube
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Twitter icon
CONNECTclose
  • Contact us
  • Meet our people
  • Global reach
ABOUTclose
  • About us
  • Location
  • Careers
  • Press releases
LEGALclose
  • Privacy
  • Site map
  • Disclaimer
  • Cookie policy

© 2021 Grant Thornton Singapore Pte Ltd - All rights reserved. “Grant Thornton” refers to the brand under which the Grant Thornton member firms provide assurance, tax and advisory services to their clients and/or refers to one or more member firms, as the context requires. Grant Thornton Singapore Pte Ltd is a member firm of Grant Thornton International Ltd (GTIL). GTIL and the member firms are not a worldwide partnership. GTIL and each member firm is a separate legal entity. Services are delivered by the member firms. GTIL does not provide services to clients. GTIL and its member firms are not agents of, and do not obligate, one another and are not liable for one another’s acts or omissions.

    • EN
    • Contact us