Soccer
Valcke released from hospital
2012-10-22 10:10
Rio de Janeiro - FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke
has left a Rio hospital, four days after being admitted for treatment
of a urinary infection, a hospital spokesperson said late on Sunday.
The
52-year-old Frenchman had been in Brazil to inspect progress in
construction of stadiums for the 2014 Soccer World Cup but was admitted late
on Wednesday to Samaritano hospital, the official said.
"FIFA's
secretary general was today discharged from Samaritano hospital in Rio
de Janeiro", football's world governing body said in a statement.
"According
to the doctor teating him, Joao Mansur Filho, Valcke responded well to
the intravenous antibiotic treatment administered," FIFA added, saying
Valcke was on an overnight flight back to the organisation's
headquarters in Switzerland.
O Globo newspaper had Sunday quoted FIFA marketing chief Thierry Weil as saying Valcke's condition was not "worrying".
The
FIFA secretary general, appointed in 2007, had planned to give a press
conference and meet with members of the Brazilian World Cup organizing
committee in Rio on Thursday but Weil will now speak in his place.
On
Tuesday, Valcke highlighted major delays in preparing six Brazilian
stadiums for next year's Confederations Cup, a dress rehearsal for the
2014 World Cup.
"Few stadiums will be delivered on time. Things need to be speeded up for the Confederations Cup," he said.
Valcke
came under scrutiny but later apologised for scathing remarks last
March regarding tardy World Cup preparations and said the host nation
were more concerned by winning the World Cup rather than organising it.
"I don't understand why things are not moving," he said at the time.
"The
concern is that nothing is made or prepared to receive so many people,
because the world wants to go to Brazil. I am sorry to say but things
are not working in Brazil," he said.
He added that organisers needed to give themselves "a kick up the backside" to get things ready on time.
Brazil
will next year host the Confederations Cup from June 15-30, 2013, in
four confirmed cities: Rio de Janeiro and Brasilia, where the final and
the opening games will be played respectively, as well as Belo Horizonte
and Fortaleza.
FIFA is to make a final decision in November on
venues depending on progress of the work on stadiums in the northern
cities of Recife and Salvador.
There is concern about Recife's
Pernambucana venue, which is only 64 percent completed eight months
before the tournament opener.
Valcke praised the progress at the
64 000-seat Belo Horizonte facility - the scheduled venue for one of
the semi-finals which is 84 percent completed and will be delivered in
December.
Wednesday, Valcke inspected the works at the behind schedule Porto Alegre venue before having to curtail his visit.