The city of Curitiba is in danger of being scrapped as a World Cup venue because of fears its new stadium will not be completed in time.

The Arena de Baixada stadium back in December (Picture: AFP/Getty Images

Fifa has given officials a February 18 deadline to prove the Arena da Baixada will be ready for the tournament or risk being struck off its plans.

Four matches are due to be played at the 43,000-capacity stadium: Spain v Australia, Honduras v Ecuador, Iran v Nigeria and Algeria v Russia.

‘As you can imagine, the current situation of the stadium is not something we really appreciate,” said Fifa general secretary Jerome Valckes on a visit to the ground.

‘The stadium is not only late, it is very, very late.

‘If you don’t have a stadium you can’t have games. It is an emergency situation.’

Inside the Arena de Baixada – not quite playable yet, then (Picture: AFP/Getty Images)

Brazil’s World Cup preparations have been beset by rising costs and public protests over what is perceived as wasted resources.

Work has been finished on six of the 12 venues, with the stadium in Curitiba – the largest city in the southern state of Parana – the furthest behind of the stragglers. Owners Atletico Paranaense say the arena is 88.8 per cent complete.

The country’s sports minister Aldo Rebelo said: ‘All our efforts are focused on taking the measures that will guarantee the Parana stadium is in the 2014 World Cup.’

According to Metro