April 20 – With the clock ticking towards kickoff, FIFA secretary-general Jérôme Valcke returns to Brazil next week to visit four World Cup host cities – São Paulo, Curitiba, Cuiabá and Fortaleza.
Alongside Brazil’s Minister of Sport, Aldo Rebelo, and members of the Local Organising Committee (LOC) Board of Administration, Valcke will receive the latest updates regarding the Arena Corinthians, Arena da Baixada, Arena Pantanal and Aterro de Iracema, three of which are still incomplete.
Valcke will hold press conferences after all four stadium visits with Tuesday’s media briefing in Sao Paulo, where the opening game will take place on June 12, expected to be of particular interest given persistent concerns about the stadium’s readiness.
Earlier this week, construction firm Odebrecht handed over the Arena Corinthians in São Paulo to its new owners, Sport Club Corinthians Paulista which now has responsibility for managing the stadium.
Construction took nearly three years with a final cost of between 950 million and 990 million Brazilian reais ($420 million-$440 million) but Andrés Sánchez, former Corinthians president and the manager of the project, criticised the media for what he considered negative coverage.
“You can rest easy as nothing is going to fall on anyone’s head,” he said, adding that the 68,000-seat stadium will be ready by the end of May even though construction crews are still hard at work.
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