When the FIFA World Cup 2014 was decided to be held in Brazil it was not a great surprise. Due to the continent rotation system FIFA uses it was South Americas turn and the cup hadn´t been held in this football crazy nation since 1950. The memory of that tournament more than 60 years ago still stings in the memory of most Brazilians. In a absolutely packed Maracanã stadium, reportedly over 200.000 spectators were at the arena, Brazil lost the deciding game against Uruguay and 'only' claimed the silver.
The official FIFA World Cup 2014 logo
Preparations All over Brazil 12 cities with arenas are being prepared to receive 32 national sides and millions of spectators and tourists. This is the single biggest sport event in the world, everything has to work. The opener is believed to be played in the New Corinthians Stadium while the final game will be played in the national arena Maracanã. The latter is currently going under major reformations.
Here is a picture showing what Maracanã will look like after the reformations are done
Here is a list of the host cities and their stadiums:
Rio de Janeiro Stadium: Maracanã Status: Undergoing reformation Capacity: 76.525 Fortaleza Stadium: Castelão Status: Undergoing reformation Capacity: 66.700 Belo Horizonte Stadium: Mineirão Status: Undergoing reformation Capacity: 69.950 Brasilia Stadium: Estádio Nacional de Brasília Status: Undergoing reformation Capacity: 71.500 Curitiba Stadium: Arena da Baixada Status: Undergoing reformation Capacity: 41.375 Porto Alegre Stadium: Estádio Beira-Rio Status: Pending reformation Capacity: 62.000 São Paulo Stadium: New Corinthians Stadium Status: Under construction Capacity: 48.000 Cuiabá Stadium: Arena Pantanal Status: Under construction Capacity: 42.500 Manaus Stadium: Arena Amazonia Status: Under construction Capacity: 50.000 Natal Stadium: Arena das Dunas Status: Under construction Capacity: 45.000 Salvador Stadium: Bahia Arena Status: Under construction Capacity: 55.000 Recife Stadium: Cidade da Copa Status: Under construction Capacity: 46.160
A big preoccupation is how to be able to receive so many people, will there be enough beds available? The organization is actively working on it. Airports are also being upgraded. A high speed railway is planned between Rio de Janeiro, Campinas and São Paulo. Loads of construction work is going on, tax reliefs have been applied to make the money ear marked for the World Cup 2014 lats longer. Measures have also been taken against corruption that in Brazilian history has plagued most large scale projects. The games are to be held between the 13th of June and the 13th of July.
This is the official FIFA World Cup 2014 video
Tickets The tickets for the World Cup 2014 have not yet been released. They will most likely be available early in 2013. Since there is almost always more demand than access it might prove very hard to get tickets for the best teams and the later stages. It has proven that if you go to 'smaller' nations that are qualified you can purchase there, this beacuse all participating nations are given a share.
