FLORIANOPOLIS, Brazil — Officials in the southern Brazilian city of Porto Alegre have solved how to pay for the temporary structures that have to be installed outside Beira-Rio stadium during the World Cup, FIFA said on Thursday.
Beira-Rio was nearly ready, but it wouldn’t be able to host its five World Cup matches without the temporary structures, which include media facilities.
FIFA Secretary General Jerome Valcke gave the city a Thursday deadline to find a solution, which involves the approval of a bill that accepts private funding and the use of structures that can be reused by the city.
The stadium owner was required by contract to pay for the structures but Giovanni Luigi, president of the Internacional club which renovated the stadium, recently demanded the local government share the nearly $13 million needed to build the facilities.
The announcement on Beira-Rio was made during FIFA’s workshop in Florianopolis to discuss organizational issues, and just hours before Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff arrived in Porto Alegre to symbolically inaugurate the venue.
Beira-Rio held its first test event last weekend, with Internacional playing against Caxias in a regional tournament in front of 10,000 of its fans. The stadium will hold nearly 50,000 people during the World Cup. The first match will be on June 15 between France and Honduras. It will also host a second-round match.
Beira-Rio was one of the five stadiums yet to be finalized even though Brazil promised all 12 venues would be ready by the end of last year.
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