The Arena ­Corinthians in São Paulo will host the opening game of the World Cup between Brazil and Croatia

The stadium that will host the opening game of the World Cup finals on Thursday was at the centre of safety concerns last night as tournament organisers are yet to test the ground at anything near full capacity.

Fifa insisted that Brazil’s group A game against Croatia at the Arena de São Paulo would be played in front of a full crowd of 61,600, even though one large temporary seating structure in the stadium was closed during trial safety runs.

British stadium specialists said last night that for a ground to be granted the mandatory safety certificates required in the UK, any new stadium would have to be tested at least once “at or around 100 per cent capacity”.

The final test event on Sunday