Brazil's north short on World Cup team bases

Brazil named 54 towns and cities as possible bases for the teams taking part in the 2014 World Cup on Wednesday, with the vast majority of the list located in the south of the country.

Only three of the potential bases are in the northeast, where four of the 12 host cities are based, while another seven are in the vast northern and central region.

The other 44 were all concentrated in the south and southeast, officials from the local organising committee and FIFA said.

However, FIFA's 2014 World Cup competition and team services manager Frederico Nantes said other towns and cities could be added later, bringing the number closer to 100.

Hosting a team is seen as a considerable consolation for cities which missed out on staging matches.

"The World Cup doesn't just belong to the 12 host cities," Nantes told reporters. "With this, we are taking the World Cup to the rest of Brazil."

The 54 areas all boasted a FIFA-approved hotel and a football pitch that met international standards and they had all agreed on costs and payment conditions, FIFA said.

Competition for the best hotels and training complexes is always heated. England, Holland, the United States and Japan are among those nations that have already sent representatives to Brazil to check out facilities.