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FIFA Threatening Host City With Exclusion

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We did say that there would be problems, and surprise surprise there are problems

Michael Heiman

Forgive us if you have already heard this story, unfortunately this particular track will be on repeat until June.

FIFA are starting to get hot under the collar at the speed of work on some of the World Cup stadiums, which isn't surprising when you allow a country with no infrastructure in place to host a prestigious tournament like this one.

Today we turn our focus to the city of Curitiba and the Arena da Balxada stadium. Work on the stadium is so far behind schedule they have until the 18th of February to prove to FIFA that it can be ready. FIFA have threatened to exclude this location and instead host the four planned games somewhere else.

Luckily for us the fixtures don't include any England games (Spain-Australia, Honduras-Ecuador, Iran-Nigeria and Algeria-Russia).

After a recent visit to the stadium, a FIFA spokesman said:

"Let's be honest. We do not like the current state of the stadium. This is not only delayed, it is way behind schedule," he said.

With the World cup set to begin on the 12th of June which is around 5 months away, 6 of the 12 stadiums are still incomplete.