5 Dec 2013

More Brazil stadiums face late handover

6:17 am on 5 December 2013

The Brazilian sports minister has announced that three more venues for next year's football World Cup will be delivered past world governing body FIFA's original December 31 deadline.

Aldo Rebelo says stadiums in Porto Alegre, Manaus and Natal will also be handed over past deadline, a day after FIFA backtracked after months of insisting it would not extend the deadline for all 12 Brazilian host arenas to be completed.

FIFA president Sepp Blatter gave more time for Sao Paulo's Arena Corinthians, which last week suffered a deadly crane accident, and for the Cuiaba and Curitiba venues, which are struggling to complete work.

The other three stadia will be ready to go in January, according to Rebelo, who joked that the World Cup was rather like a marriage, where the bride always arrives late but the marriage always goes ahead.

Brazil's 12 stadiums are four more than originally stipulated by FIFA.

The first six were ready in time to stage matches in June and July at the Confederations Cup, effectively the World Cup test event.