A portion of Itaquero Stadium in Sao Paolo, Brazil collapsed Wednesday when a crane fell on it, killing two workers and leaving a third hospitalized in serious condition. The stadium was meant to be the site of the World Cup’s opening match this summer.
Although Brazil’s 12 World Cup venues were due to be completed by the end of December, FIFA is yet to announce any plans for a venue change despite the recent collapse.
”It is too premature to make any detailed assessment on the situation of the Corinthians Arena as we are still awaiting the technical report to be able to evaluate the scale of the damage,” FIFA said in a statement sent to the Associated Press. ”We will be able to provide an update earliest next week following the FIFA Organising Committee of the FIFA World Cup.”
Despite the tragic nature of this event, it brings the topics of many Brazilian protests to the forefront of the news. A number of groups have complained about mistreatment of workers at the future World Cup sites, and this incident could be the fuel the movement needs to drum up some attention on the global stage. FIFA, meanwhile, issued a statement Wednesday that said the safety of its workers are of the utmost concerns.
With the current debacle of the 2022 Qatar World Cup continuing to unfold, it’s easy to forget about the turmoil that has gone in Brazil during the past few months. It will be interesting to see the responses by both the host nation and FIFA following this tragedy. It appears an interesting political climate in Brazil could have gotten a little more messy.