Jerome Valcke

Last week, Fifa secretary general Jerome Valcke stated that the organisation will learn from their mistakes when planning future World Cups, with the 2018 edition taking place in Russia.

There have been far too many hiccups during the preparations for the upcoming tournament, including delays, protests and casualties. Three of the twelve stadiums included are not even ready yet, where stadium owners and local authorities are currently in disagreement over who pays for temporary facilities.

“It is a lesson and definitely we will act differently and will have to find a different way of working for future events, starting with Russia in 2018,” Valcke said after a Local Organising Committee meeting in Rio. “We are late, we face difficulties and risks right up to the last minute because we haven’t tested the installations, we need time to test them,”.

With no signs of improvement on the horizon, these instances have surely served to humble FIFA’s pride, making sure that they’ll know better when dealing with future tournaments’ preparations.