The International Football Federation (FIFA) says about 4,200 members of the media have been accredited for coverage of the World Cup in Japan and South Korea. FIFA says the youngest reporter is a teenager from Bolivia, while the oldest is an octogenarian from Portugal.
When you enter the World Cup's International Media Center in Yokohama, you are likely to hear a wide variety of languages spoken. Reporters have come from all over the globe to cover the sport's premier event.
FIFA spokesman Keith Cooper says most of them are men, including the oldest and youngest reporters at the 17th World Cup. "The oldest is a gentleman called Aurelio Maceo Costa, a freelancer from Portugal who was born July 12, 1919," he said. "So, he is coming up on his 83rd birthday.
"The youngest is a young man called Jose Miguel Arravello from Bolivia, who, according to the list, was born January 4, 1988. So he's 14. Maybe he has something to learn from Mr. Aurelio Maceo Costa," said the spokesman.
Keith Cooper says that of the 4,200 members of the media who have received World Cup accreditation, only 232 are women. He says the most female reporters, 66, come from World Cup co-host Japan. The other co-host, South Korea, has 40 accredited women, while the United States has sent 22 female reporters.