Beijing abandons plan to rename subway stations after World Cup teams

Beijing has abandoned a plan to rename subway stations after the 32 teams competing in the World Cup in Brazil amid fears that it would confuse passengers, the subway operators said on Tuesday.

To celebrate the soccer's showpiece event which kicks off on Thursday, the Beijing MTR Corportation, which runs subway Line 4 in the Chinese capital, had named 32 stops on Line 4 and its extension after each of the 32 World Cup teams, with the other three stop being named "Fair Play", "Sportsmanship" and "Footballers of the Year".

But some passengers complained on the Internet that the name change could cause confusion as the nameplates which carry the names of the participating teams were just on top of the originals, the MTR said.

"In order to ensure the operational safety and passengers' convenience, and avoid any unnecessary impact on passengers' travel, names of participating teams will no longer appear in the station," the MTR announced on its Weibo account, a Twitter-like social network.