A possible appearance by President Xi Jinping at the World Cup soccer final in Brazil in July has been tipped to boost grassroots enthusiasm for the game while helping him to strengthen ties with the public.

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has invited Xi to watch the final on July 13 before he attends the 2014 BRICS summit in the Brazilian city of Fortaleza, according to Valdemar Carneiro Leao, the Brazilian ambassador to China, in an interview with Chinese news website ifeng.com.

The summit will be attended by leaders from Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.