Fifa buoyed by Brazil's World Cup 2014 stadium progress

18-Oct-2012 4:03:00 AM

Secretary general Jerome Valcke is thrilled to see one of the venues close to completion, just under two years before the tournament gets underway

Belo Horizonte's Estadio Mineirao is nearing completion, after the stadium was completely refurbished as part of the preparations for the 2014 Brazil World Cup.

The country's third largest city greeted Fifa, the local organising committee and the Brazilian government on Tuesday as part of an inspection visit.

Fifa's Jerome Valcke lavished praise on the progress being made in Belo Horizonte, the capital of the Minas Gerais state in the south east of Brazil.

"It’s great to see a stadium that is nearly ready," Valcke said.

"That’s the message I want to send out to the other venues. We are happy to see the stadium on the way to being completed.

"We have already started laying the pitch for the players and if Brazil finish top of their group they could play two games here."

There are expected to be six host cities, with Brasilia, Belo Horizonte, Fortaleza, Recife, Rio de Janeiro and Salvador all pencilled in.

During the press conference that followed the visit to the stadium, Valcke admitted that not all of the proposed venues were yet at the same stage of completion.

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