Fifa buoyed by Brazil's World Cup 2014 stadium progress

Oct 17, 2012 11:33:00 PM

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.

Sign up with William Hill for a free bet up to £25
Sign up with bet365 for a free bet up to £200
Sign up to Paddy Power for £250 in free bets
Sign up today with Coral and get a £50 FREE bet - no strings attached!
Sign up today with BetVictor and get a £25 FREE BET!

play

open

Inside Goal.Com

Bayern's jinx - CL final referee Nicola Rizzoli
Goal takes a look at the career of the Italian arbiter to date following Uefa's decision to appoint the 41-year-old for Saturday's showpiece at Wembley
Goal's Serie A awards for 2012-13
Goal crowns the best and worst from Italy over the course of the season
2012-13: The season that ended an era
A frenzy of tears, salutes and send-offs have marked the finale of the campaign of goodbyes as the Premier League draws a line under its first defining generation
Now or never for Wenger to seal legacy
The Gunners sealed a place in next season's Champions League with victory at Newcastle on Sunday - and must now spend money to improve the squad over the summer
And Goal.com's World Player of the Week is ...
Check out which star man gets the nod from our panel of experts this week ...

Goal.com