FIFA's Valcke back in Brazil for Cup visits

Rio de Janeiro (AFP) - FIFA on Thursday announced that its secretary general Jerome Valcke will return to Brazil next week to visit World Cup host cities Sao Paulo, Curitiba, Cuiaba and Fortaleza from Tuesday to Thursday.

Valcke, making his monthly visit to the host nation, will accompany Minister of Sport Aldo Rebelo, and Local Organising Committee (LOC) members Ronaldo and Bebeto as he visits the stadiums in the four cities including Sao Paulo's much-delayed Arena Corinthians, which will host the June 12 tournament opener between Brazil and Croatia.

Constructors symbolically handed over the venue, still unfinished, to owners Corinthians on Tuesday and it is due to be delivered to FIFA on May 20.

Three workers died at the site in accidents -- two killed in November and another in March, putting back completion.

Valcke will then head to the southern city of Curitiba to inspect the Baixada Arena, which he threatened to leave off the list of 12 venues before agreeing in February that the pace of work had speeded up sufficiently to retain it.

Wednesday will see Valcke in the central city of Cuiaba, whose stadium is also unfinished, and then head south to Porto Alegre, where the stadium is ready but where temporary structures are not as yet complete.

On his last visit to Brazil last month, Valcke said rows over who is liable for temporary structures such as media work areas had been "a lesson" to organisers who "will have to find a different way of working" in future.

In Fortaleza on Thursday, Valcke will visit the Aterro de Iracema site, which is due to host the Fan Fest, or open air street party area for ticketless fans.

After the tour, Valcke will attend a LOC Board Meeting next Friday in Rio de Janeiro.