FIFA Secretary General Jérôme Valcke said work at the Arena da Baixada was "very delayed and well outside the delivery schedule" during a visit to the city in the south of Brazil.

A deadline of February 18 has been set, by which time a decision will be made on "whether the stadium is in a position... to give us the confidence to hold World Cup matches there", Valcke said today.

A steering committee and a technical committee has been created between the parties involved in getting the stadium ready to host its scheduled four World Cup matches.

Those parties are FIFA, the Local Organising Committee (LOC), the local authorities at Curitiba city hall, the Parana state government and Clube Atletico Paranaense football team.

The link-up is intended to help intensify work at the stadium.

Valcke added: "To be very honest, the situation as it stands is not ideal.

"But we have to be positive and that's why we have come together, as the main driving forces involved, to find solutions.

"We will have people from FIFA and the LOC monitoring the stadium's progress on a daily basis and we will work together to guarantee that Curitiba will host FIFA World Cup games."

Officials in Curitiba have four weeks to convince FIFA they can get their stadium and the surrounding area ready in time to host its four World Cup matches ©Getty Images



The four group matches scheduled to be hosted at the stadium are Iran versus Nigeria on June 16; Honduras versus Ecuador on June 20; Australia versus Spain on June 23 and Algeria versus Russia on June 26.

It is not due to host any knockout matches.

Executive Secretary of the Ministry of Sport Luis Fernandes said: "What all sides have found is that, if the pace of work at the stadium in Curitiba were to be kept as it is, then it would not be ready with the quality and requirements necessary to host the FIFA World Cup.

"With this is mind, we agreed that we would take steps to guarantee that the arena would be ready to host the games scheduled to be held there."

The World Cup, the second to be hosted in Brazil, will feature 32 teams with matches played across 12 stadiums from June 12 to July 13.

"Commitments taken on by the city of Curitiba, the Parana state government and Clube Atletico Paranaense must be delivered in full," said Curitiba World Cup Municipal Secretary Reginaldo Cordeiro.

"The city hall is honouring all the commitments assumed to hold the World Cup, such as improvements to surrounding areas and expropriating land, as we have the technical capacity to do so."