ASTANA, March 27 — Sao Paulo's Corinthians Arena stadium will host the opening match of Brazil's World Cup as planned after overcoming a series of construction woes, FIFA president Sepp Blatter confirmed today.

Blatter said the stadium's troubles had been “fixed”, telling a UEFA congress in Kazakhstan's capital Astana that the June 12 opener between Brazil and Croatia would go ahead at the venue.

The 68,000-seat stadium in Brazil's biggest city had been hit by a string of delays and problems, including an accident that killed two construction workers in November.

Financial problems have compounded organisers' woes, although this week brought some relief in the form of a 260 million reais (RM373 million) loan instalment from state investment bank BNDES.

The stadium, which will host six World Cup games including a semi-final, hosted its first training session earlier this month. ­ — AFP