FIFA has confirmed that Curitiba will remain as one of the stadiums set to host important matches at the upcoming World Cup. It was heavily expected that FIFA would drop the stadium from the list of host cities, as they have failed to comply with the December 31 deadline to hand over the stadiums to FIFA.

Brazil has been suffering from huge delays even with basic aspects like stadium completion. Further attributes like transport and infrastructure still remain inadequate to handle the amount of fans expected to arrive in Brazil in June.

Curitiba was given the status of a host city and work started on building a 40,000 seater stadium. The work has been delayed due to various reasons, which threatened the prospect of the city hosting the World Cup matches.

It would have been disastrous for the local economy had the World Cup organising committee decided to move stadiums after so much and want of money had been spent on creating it. As it is, Curitiba will now get extra work force in order to see to that the work is completed before the start of the tournament.

Curitiba will be hosting important matches like the one involving current world champions Spain against Australia (which completebetting.com reckons should be an easy Spanish win.

FIFA general secretary Valcke said that he was counting on the progress of the local council. “It is essential that the works are maintained at the required levels and that a collective effort by all the stakeholders involved in Curitiba continues. It is a race against a very tight timeline and will require regular monitoring, but we are counting on the commitment made by Atletico Paranaense, the city and the state of Curitiba,” said Valcke.

“There is still a lot to be done but we have always been confident that Curitiba will deliver,” said the FIFA organising committee’s chief executive, Ricardo Trade.