World Cup Diary Day 24: Brazil fan’s World Cup final ticket saga

A Brazilian man who donated a ticket from the 1950 World Cup final to the Fifa museum lost the pair of tickets Fifa presented him for this year's final.

Joedir Belmont, left, and Fifa's Jerome Valcke trade tickets from the 1950 and 2014 World Cup finals at the Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on June 27, 2014. Belmont, 85, had a ticket for tShow more

A Brazilian pensioner who was unable to attend the 1950 World Cup trophy match in Rio and donated his carefully preserved ticket to Fifa’s museum has lost his ticket to next Sunday’s final.

Joedir Belmont, 85, had a ticket for Brazil’s loss to Uruguay witnessed by 200,000 people at the Maracana owing to a family illness.

But he kept his ticket and donated it to Fifa’s football museum, who responded by giving him two tickets for this year’s final, secretary general Jerome Valcke handing them over personally.

Belmont had managed to obtain tickets for several games outside Rio for this year’s tournament but not the final, until football’s world body intervened.

Now his dreams of seeing the denouement of the World Cup again may be dashed as he mislaid the tickets on the way home from last week’s ceremony where they had been presented to him, O Estado de Sao Paulo newspaper reported on Friday.

“I kept a ticket for 64 years; I lost the other inside six hours,” the paper quoted Belmont as lamenting.

He said he had reported the loss and Fifa had advised him to wait to see if they show up or else they will re-issue the two tickets he was given and a third he was allowed to buy.

“If my tickets aren’t handed in they have promised to re-issue them – they have my name on,” said Belmont. “My cousins, who are dead now, saw Brazil defeated [in 1950] – but I’m very much hoping that I shall see the Selecao crowned champions.”