After four years of the ‘best World Cup ever’, Brazil’s World Cup legacy is taking shape – and it doesn’t look pretty for the lovers of the once iconic ‘jogo bonito'. Jorge Knijnik looks into the cultural, political and sporting impact of the 2014 event on the people of Brazil.

When most of the matches played during the recent World Cup are long forgotten, we should still remember and thank the Brazilians for having set a new international agenda in sport, writes Jens Sejer Andersen, international director of Play the Game.

It does not help the referees or the image of football if geopolitical considerations cause FIFA to introduce an absurd neutrality concept when nominating referees, Christer Ahl writes in his column looking back at the recently completed World Cup in Brazil.

It may be an overlooked reason for the protests in Brazil, that this World Cup has taken football away from its traditional audiences, says PhD candidate Guilherme Nothen in this comment piece.

The FIFA World Cup will influence Brazilian domestic and international politics, the ongoing crisis at FIFA and the wider future of sporting mega-events, writes author David Goldblatt in an exclusive piece for Play the Game.

There are only a few days to go before the Brazil World Cup begins. Will the streets be safe? Will there be protest and violence again? After mass demonstrations marked the Confederations Cup last year, the fragile security and violence situation means that no one knows what to expect during the biggest football event in the world.

Though the World Cup has brought some positive change to Brazil, the 14 billion USD investments fail to deliver opportunities for long-term development, American scholar and activist Christopher Gaffney writes.

The World Cup in Brazil is not only challenged by the risk of civil unrest. Violence in and around football stadiums is notorious in South American football. The tournament’s immediate success will partly depend on the ability to curb the violent fans, but the problems go deeper, writes Javier Szlifman.