January 20 – FIFA general secretary Jerome Valcke is back in Brazil checking on the progress of World Cup stadiums – but has apparently cancelled a visit to Manaus because of a workers’ dispute at Arena Amazonas which is due to host a number of group games next summer.
FIFA says the delegation led by Valcke and Brazilian Sports Minister Aldo Rebelo will now visit Sao Paulo, Cuiaba, for the formal opening of the stadium there, and Curitiba.
Half the stadiums being used for the World Cup missed the end-of-year deadline for completion and FIFA have made no secret of their concern.
“We find ourselves with stadiums – as was the case at the Confederations Cup – that are delivered too close to the kick-off of the first match, and stadiums where we have encountered a certain number of difficulties,” Valcke said in a recent radio interview.
“We find ourselves with infrastructure that isn’t perfectly in place.”
Brazil is spending about $3.6 billion on 12 new and renovated stadiums, way up from the originally budgeted figure of $1 billion. There are fears that four of them – in Brasilia, Natal, Cuiaba and Manaus – may end up as white elephants since none have a top local league team.
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