Publications
Partners
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.
