Abou-Treika Set for World Cup

Egyptian footie ace Mohamed Abou-Treika is set to line out alongside the world's top stars at this year's World Cup opening ceremony.

The former Al-Ahly midfielder has been invited by the world football governing body to attend the super-glitzy 2014 World Cup opening ceremony, due to take place on June 12 in the country's capital, San Paolo.

The recently-retired star was named among a host of African figures invited by FIFA for the big Brazil finals' opener at Sao Paulo Stadium.

Abou-Treika, who hung up his boots last year, will already be available in Brazil as a pundit analysing the World Cup finals for Arabic broadcaster BeIN SPORTS.

Abou-Treika will be joined in Sao Paolo by Al-Azhar Grand Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb, who is set to deliver a speech at the opening event.

The talk is set to centre around the theme of peace and the need to renounce violence and intolerance in the world.

South American footie chiefs have come under fire over their failure to complete stadium works with just NINE days before the competition kicks off.

The Sao Paulo stadium staged a test game on Sunday with one section temporarily closed and another at half capacity on firefighters’ orders.

The new Corinthians Arena remains unfinished with the two incomplete seating sections unable to accommodate fans as owners Corinthians met Botafogo for the test game before a crowd of 37,119 paying guests.

FIFA had expected that the stadium would be able to hold a full capacity test for 65,000 fans.