FIFA has contingency plan in place despite naming 2013 Confederations Cup host cities

By Andrew Warshaw

May 22 – FIFA have indirectly conceded that not all the required stadiums may be ready in time to stage next year’s Confederations Cup, the dry run tournament for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

Brasília, Belo Horizonte, Fortaleza, Rio de Janeiro, Recife, and Salvador were approved as venues by FIFA’s Executive Committee but contingency plans have been put in place in case only four or five of them are fit to host games because of continued worries over stadium rebuilding.

In a typically diplomatic statement, FIFA said that although six cities had been selected, it was necessary “to adapt smoothly to the actual situation” and that a follow-up decision would be taken at the latest by mid-November.

Stadiums have been a major concern for FIFA and Brazil 2014, with more than half of those being considered for the World Cup less than halfway through construction or renovation.

The Minerão stadium (pictured above) in Belo Horizonte and the Estádio Fonte Nova (pictured top) in Salvador are 55 per cent built, while the Mané Garrincha in Brasília is 54 per cent complete.

Even the great Maracanã has experienced problems with strikes delaying reconstruction of one of the most famous stadiums in the world, which hosted the final of the World Cup the last time the competition came to Brazil in 1950.

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