Besides beer, Brazil’s World Soccer Cup will have lots of holidays

The 2014 World Soccer Cup law (“Lei Geral da Copa”) approved yesterday, March 28, by the Chamber of Deputies, liberates the sale and consumption of alcoholic beverages during soccer games by not prohibiting the sale and consumption of alcoholic beverages. Specifically, the bill suspends Article 13 of the Soccer Fan Statute (“Estatuto do Torcedor”) that prohibits alcoholic beverages at Brazilian soccer games. The statute is a federal law from 2003. The anti-drinking provisions date from 2010 but never really went into effect because they lacked appropriate legislation (“regulamentação”). Even so, some five states do have state laws prohibiting alcoholic beverages at soccer games. Therefore, the bill allows FIFA to negotiate with those states and any other states with informal prohibitions. FIFA did not include such negotiations in its executive power-plan for managing the 2014 World Cup.

The bill that will become law and govern the country for a couple of weeks in the middle of the year 2014 will also permit state governors to decree holidays on days when World Cup games take place in their states. And, last but not least, the federal government will decree national holidays on the days that Brazil’s national soccer team plays.