FIFA official to return to Brazil next week

Rio de Janeiro, April 3 (IANS) FIFA general secretary Jerome Valcke will return to Brazil next week for a Senate hearing on the country's 2014 World Cup preparations.

It will be his first trip to Brazil since controversially saying the World Cup organizers needed a "kick in the backside" due to the slow progress in the preparations for the event.

Brazil's Sports Minister Aldo Rebelo responded by telling FIFA that he would no longer deal with Valcke. But a subsequent meeting between FIFA president Joseph Blatter and Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff seems to have resolved the matter, Xinhua reported.

Valcke will take part in a sitting conducted by Brazil's commission for education, culture and sport April 11. Rebelo has also been invited but is yet to officially reply.