This month, Chivas de Guadalajara's new stadium, Estadio Chivas, was supposed to open after two years of construction. Construction and financing delays have delayed that. But it looks like the new venue will open later this year.

The one major downside to the stadium from a soccer perspective?

In 1995, the final decision had to be made on the design for the Stade de France, to host the 1998 World Cup final and become the new national stadium. Choosing between the two finalist designs, outgoing prime minister Edouard Balladur decided to go with Michel Macary's design: the one we now know as the Stade de France, which is nice enough.

That is unlikely to be the final name for the stadium, but "rectangular" is a fitting working name as the 31,500 capacity stadium, which will host soccer and rugby, is being made in part to replace the reliance on the oval stadia of Melbourne suitable for Australian Rules Football and cricket.

Construction on the new stadium began last year, and here's the progress so far (live webcam here), with a scheduled opening of May 2010.

Donbass Arena opened on August 29th, 2009, and this week will host its first international and one of the biggest game's in Ukraine's history: the second-leg of their World Cup 2010 qualifier playoff against Greece. Ukraine are in great shape to qualify after a 0-0 draw in Athens this weekend.

The game could be taking place in no more beautiful setting.

Time is short today, so the weekly stadium spotlight series takes a brief look at a stadium that has a considerable transformation planned for it.

In May, the twelve host cities for the 2014 World Cup finals in Brazil were announced. One of the winning bids was Fortaleza, the state capital of Ceará in Northeastern Brazil.

For almost 60 years, Lyon have been playing in the Stade de Gerland, a venerable old stadium built in 1914 and a World Cup finals venue in 1998. But their recent run of success of eight consecutive championships from 2002 to 2008 has Lyon planning a rich new future at the Grand Stade in eastern Lyon.