Brazil cancels major football event

Fears about disruption to next year's World Cup have been raised after the key global football conference Soccerex was cancelled because of continuing civil unrest, the BBC reported.

It was due to start in just three weeks time at the Maracana stadium.

The England manager, Roy Hodgson, was among a number of high-profile figures who were planning to attend the event.

The organisers and Rio's state government disagreed over why the event is being called off.

In a statement, the organisers said the government took the decision because of "ongoing civil unrest" in Brazil.

This was later "strongly denied" by the state government of Rio, citing instead funding problems.

"The governor says he encouraged the organisers to seek cultural and sports incentive funding to finance the event, but the organisers failed to do so," it said in a statement read out by Fifa's head of media at a news conference in London.