NEW YORK — Brazil’s Sports Minister complained to FIFA about high prices contemplated for next year’s World Cup, and said football’s governing body will give 50,000 free tickets to poor communities and make half-price seats available to the elderly and students.

In an interview last week, Aldo Rebelo said prices for the tournament in Brazil, to be played from June 12 to July 14, became an issue.

“I spoke with FIFA representatives, stating that this was unacceptable, that the prices were so high,” he said. “This is really a celebration of the people of Brazil. Football is very important for the whole population in Brazil. So, I mentioned to FIFA representatives, how about that part of the population that cannot afford those expensive tickets?”

The United States Central Intelligence Agency’s World Factbook estimates Brazil’s per capita income at US$12,000 (S$15,000) last July 1, ranked 106th among nations. Qatar, the 2022 World Cup host, is first at US$102,800.

“FIFA has donated 50,000 tickets to these poor communities and indigenous communities,” Rebelo said. “And also, we have 50 per cent discount for the elderly population and for students.”

FIFA said last week it will announce prices on July 1 for next year’s tournament and ticket sales will start on Aug 20.

For the 2010 World Cup, prices were announced in November 2007 and sales started in February 2009.

Non-premium prices for the 2010 tournament in South Africa ranged from US$70 to US$450 for the opener and US$20 to US$160 for other first-round matches, and escalated to US$150 to US$900 for the final.

For the Confederations Cup, an eight-nation warm-up tournament this month, FIFA is offering half-price tickets to Brazilian residents who are students, 60 years or older by June 30 or in the Bolsa Familia government assistance programme.

Ahead of the World Cup and the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil is spending an estimated US$3.5 billion on stadium construction and renovation.

“The infrastructure investments are really geared towards all communities. The investments were planned for before, or regardless of, the World Cup and the Olympics,” Rebelo said. He added that the stadium construction for the World Cup — six venues will be new and six others renovated — cannot be compared with venues erected for World Cups in South Korea in 2002 or in South Africa, many of which are now underutilised.

“In the 70s, Brazil built a lot of big stadiums and these stadiums were geared only towards football, nothing else. But the stadiums nowadays are completely different,” he said, predicting they will be used for “conferences, musical shows, restaurants, also trade shows”.

“This,” he said, “will allow the possibility for these stadiums to have some income, because these spaces will be rented for a high rate.” AP