FIFA could take legal action against the city of Recife if it does not host a World Cup fan zone, the world governing body said Thursday.
"It is the duty of the cities. If someone has a contract and does not fulfil the terms, there are legal measures you can apply," said FIFA marketing chief Thierry Weil late on Thursday (local time) at the World Cup work shop being held in Florianopolis, Brazil, this week.
"So far we have not yet studied the measures we could take. But I am confident there will be fan zones in all 12 (host) cities." FIFA's response was prompted by the mayor of Recife, Geraldo Julio, saying the city would not host the event due to the 8.4-million dollar cost to the public purse.
Julio is reported to have concerns there could be a repeat of the protests which marked the Confederations Cup in 2013 when over a million people took to the streets to demonstrate against social problems and the high cost of the World Cup.
FIFA has supported fan zones at World Cup venues since the 2002 event in Japan and South Korea. Since then FIFA says more than 24 million people have visited the zones.
