A giant clock on the legendary Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro on Wednesday began counting the days until World Cup 2014 in Brazil. The tournament begins on June 12 next year. Host nations always contest the opening game of a World Cup.

Legendary Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer, who died aged 104 in December, designed the clock. To satisfy the seedier side of the game, the time piece itself is made by Hublot, the paid-up sponsor and timekeeper for the tournament.

Brazilian football institution Pele was present at the opening ceremony, along with Brazil's Sports Minister Aldo Rebelo, FIFA's Secretary-General Jerome Valcke, the mayor of Rio de Janeiro and Hublot's president.

On the sidelines of the event, Pele told German sports news agency SID that he was confident the event would be a success, despite scares over constructing new state-of-the-art stadiums in time for the event.

"I expect that this will be a grand celebration, and hope that we will all celebrate a wonderful World Cup," Pele told SID. "The stadiums and the infrastructure worry us a little. The government stepped in too late, and financial difficulties have arisen."

Blatter expresses optimism from afar

With the next Summer Olympics also taking place in Brazil in 2016, the country is in the midst of dozens of private and public projects, building venues and other facilities to cope with millions of fans and athletes.

"I hope that from this point forward, everybody will work hard and manage to catch up on the delays," Pele said.

FIFA President Sepp Blatter could not attend the event, but posted a statement on the organization's website saying that holding the World Cup "in such a multi-cultural society is bound to bring people together."

"There are no differences in football, social classes don't exist," Blatter said.

Brazil last hosted a World Cup in 1950, losing in the final against Uruguay. Brazil have won the World Cup a record five times, most recently in 2002 at Germany's expense during the competition in Japan and South Korea. No European team has ever won a World Cup in the Americas.

On Saturday, the traditional "World Cup warm-up" competition - the Confederations Cup - begins in Brazil, with the hosts opening proceedings against Japan, the only country to have so far qualified for next year's competition. Hosts Brazil and tournament holders Spain qualify automatically.

msh/ccp (AFP, dpa, SID)