World Cup Brazil 2014

Today, FIFA announced the countries which will host the World Cup of 2018 (Russia) and of 2022 (Qatar).

Inspired by that event, many people are searching for information about the World Cup 2014 in Brazil.

So, follows a  brief description of the situation as of today, December 2nd 2010:

The host cities were announced in May of 2009. FIFA and the Brazilian Federation chose 12 cities as hosts: Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Brasília, Belo Horizonte, Curitiba, Porto Alegre, Salvador, Recife, Fortaleza, Natal, Manaus and Cuiaba.

The first match of the Cup should be on June 13th 2014 (a Friday), and the final match on July 13th 2014 (a Sunday). It will be winter in Brazil, but weather will be fine in most of the cities.

Qualifyings haven’t started yet. Brazil is the only country with a secured place in 2014.

Nothing has been officially said about how tickets will be sold.

None of the twelve stadiums is not even close to being ready. It is not official yet, but it is certain that the final match of the Cup will be in Maracanã. São Paulo, the city with the best infrastructure in Brazil, will probably host the opening match (this assuming that this stadium will be ready by then; Morumbi is definitively ruled out).

While stadiums are delayed, the biggest concern is with the infrastructure, particularly the aiports; several organizations have issued warnings about the bottlenecks in Brazilian airports – see here, here and here.

FIFA and the Brazilian LOC say that they are confident that everything will be ready for 2014.

With the fast growth of tourism in Brazil, the number of people looking for accommodation with high levels of comfort, personalized services, unique decoration, discrete location (the so called Charming Hotels) is also growing.

Roteiros de Charme (Tours of Charm) is the private association which congregates the Charming Hotels in Brazil. The past year alone, more than one hundred hotels applied to join the group; however, only two of them were approved.

Hotel Villa Bahia (photo) is located in Pelourinho, heart of the Historic Center of Salvador (itself a charming World Heritage Site), in the State of Bahia; two old mansions of the 17th and 19th Century were refurbished to give place to the hotel. There are only 17 suites (with acoustic insulation), swimming pool and a terrace with a view to the Pelourinho.

The other new member of the Charming Hotels is Pousada do Engenho (Pousada = Inn; Engenho = old farm), in the city of São Francisco de Paula, about 120 km distant from Porto Alegre, in the State of Rio Grande do Sul.

The Charming Hotels are spread across 13 States of Brazil; there is at least one hotel in 10 of the 12 cities which will host matches of the World Cup 2014. Salvador and Porto Alegre, mentioned above, are two of the host cities; Brasilia and Cuiaba are the two host cities with no hotels.

Below, a sample of other Charming Hotels in Brazil.

Hotel Rosa dos Ventos, Teresopolis, Rio de Janeiro

Rio de Janeiro. None of the hotels is in the capital city. Hotel Rosa dos Ventos (photo above), in the Imperial city of Teresópolis, is the oldest member of the club (Teresópolis is where the Brazilian Confederation maintains a training center). See more hotels in Rio de Janeiro.

Sao Paulo. Likewise, no hotel in the capital city. Chateau La Villette, up the mountains of Campos do Jordão (120 km from the capital) has been Charmful since 2000. See more hotels in Sao Paulo.

Belo Horizonte. No hotel in the city. Solar da Ponte, in the Historic city of Tiradentes, is a good option. Check out hotels in Belo Horizonte.

Curitiba. Only one hotel: La Dolce Vitta, less than half an hour drive from Arena da Baixada, the stadium which will stage matches in the city. See other hotels in Curitiba.

Recife. There are three hotels near Recife, and all deserve mention. Pousada do Amparo is located in Olinda, which exhalates History, culture, music and party in every corner. Pousada Zé Maria and Pousada Teju-Açu are the best accommodation options in Fernando de Noronha, a paradisiac island off the Brazilian coast, still unknown to foreign tourists, but a favorite among Brazilians. See other hotels in Recife and other hotels in Noronha.

Natal. Two hotels. Manary is in the capital, Natal, and Toca da Coruja is in Pipa beach. See other hotels in Natal and hotels in Pipa.

Fortaleza. The only charming hotel in the state of Ceara is Orixás Hotel, about 120 km from the capital Fortaleza. See other hotels in Fortaleza.

Manaus. Anavilhanas Lodge, right in the middle of the jungle, about 180 km down the river from the capital Manaus. See other hotels in Manaus.

FIFA officials are visiting Brazil this week; Secretary General Jerome Valcke has met with members of the Local Organising Committee and Government officials to get updates on the World Cup 2014.

CBF has announced that the draw which will define the qualifying groups for the World Cup 2014 will be held in July of 2011 in the city of Rio de Janeiro (which was the only candidate city to host the event). This is one of the most visited events of the World Cup, as it is attended by representatives and journalists from more than 202 countries which participate in the Qualifying.

Rio’s Mayor wanted to host the draw at the yet to be finished Cidade da Música (City of Music), but FIFA vetoed the place; a new place is yet to be defined.

According to sources, FIFA would be considering to establish the International Broadcasting Center of the World Cup 2014 also in Rio, more specifically at the Centro de Convenções Sul America (South America Convention Center), which is located just 2 km from Maracanã.

Still according to sources, FIFA and the Government of Rio would have decided to setup one of the bigger TV centers of the Cup in the Aterro do Flamengo, so that the images of Pão de Açúcar and the Guanabara Bay would appear in the background images of the reports.

However, other cities also have interested in hosting the IBC and the TV Center, as these centers attract a lot of professionals involved with the Cup (hence, generating a lot of business in infrastructure and in services, such as hotels). The main rival of Rio is São Paulo, but Brasilia, Salvador and Belo Horizonte are also interested.

And it is to Sao Paulo that Valcke and staff are heading next. Among several other business decisions, FIFA has yet to confirm whether the new Corinthians Itaquera Arena will host the opening of the Cup (or even if Sao Paulo will continue a host city at all).

Natal is a city with nearly 1 million people, and is one of the hosts of 2014. With easy access from Europe and North America, and beautiful tropical beaches, it will probably be one of the most visited cities during the Cup.

The Brazilian Government has been announcing that there will be heavy investments in infrastructure to prepare the country for the World Cup, including US$ 12 bn in Information Technology investments.

However, it is very likely that users accustomed to high speed access in their home countries will feel the impact of the lower levels of services in Brazil. The Finnish (to whom a 1 MB connection is a basic right, rather than a commerciable service), or the Japanese (who since 2004 have been seeing 1 GB connection for US$ 38 per month), may feel they are back to the Paleolithic Era of internet.

Take, for example, this notice published yesterday, August 1st 2010, by newspaper Tribuna de Natal about broadband access in Natal.

There are only two providers of broaband access in Natal: Cabo Telecom (a cable TV operator) and Oi Velox (ran by Oi Brazil, which happens to be the worst telecom company in Brazil).

Below, prices charged by Cabo Telecom:

So, for a plan with up to 1 Mbps of download and up to 256 Kbps upload, subject to a monthly quota of 20 GB of transfer, the price is R$ 109.90 per month (a bit more than US$ 60 per month).

The broadest band Oi offers in Natal is 1 Mbps, costing 109.90 monthly, provided that the user buys a “promotion” package including voice services.

If the client is interested in data connection only (no voice), then the following table applies:

For most cities (including Natal), only 1 Mpbs is offered, at a cost of R$ 130 for configuration and R$ 123.30 monthly afterwards.

These are the the same options that businesses like hotels, LAN houses, shopping centers, etc have in Natal; that means that their services won’t be any better than their providers’ services.

For some cities, the improvement of internet access, along with a reduction in prices, could be one important legacy of the World Cup.

Arena Capibaribe, the stadium to be build near Recife, has just obtained the environmental clearance to start building the works; the last license was issued by the Agency for Environment and Hydric Resources of the State of Pernambuco.

The Arena Capibaribe and the Complex City of the Cup (which will include, besides the stadium, hotels, business and residence towers and more) will be built in the city of Sao Lourenço da Mata, metropolitan area of Recife. Read more about World Cup in Recife and check out accommodation in Recife.

The video below shows where the complex will be built (the pipe in the background is an aqueduct), in an area  with vestigious of the Atlantic Forest.

The first idea was to built the  Arena in a space near the Convention Center, between Recife and Olinda; however, the cost of terrains was considered too high. The area in Sao Lourenço was chosen because the terrain is already property of the Government of Pernambuco.

The video below highlights the good location of Arena Capibaribe, near to Europe and North America and with good connections with the other host cities.

Environment agencies are being very careful to issue licenses. It is a well known fact today that the unplanned growth of Suape (an industrial and portuary Complex near Sao Lourenço) caused  ecological unbalances which in turned caused sharks to move to the beaches of Recife. In Recife, which once was one of the main surf spots in Brazil, today even sea bathing requires caution – surfers moved to Porto de Galinhas, South of Suape, unaffected by sharks.

The capacity of Arena Capibaribe will be 46,140 seats. There will be 6,000 parking slots.

The City of the Cup will comprehend the Arena, a shopping center, a technical school, a hospital, 9 thousand residences, and ample green area.

A new metro station is being built. There are plans to create rings all around the metropolitan Recife to improve road access to the Complex.

Estimated cost of the Arena alone is R$ 464 million (about US$ 260 million); the Arena should be ready in 2012, and could be one host of the Confederations Cup 2013. Total cost of the City of the Cup is estimated in R$ 1.6 billion (about US$ 900 million), and there is no set deadline.

The contractor is a consortium formed by Odebrecht, International Stadia Group and AEG Facilities. Besides collecting the proceedings of the businesses generated from the Arena, the consortium will receive R$ 4 million per year from the State Government.

However, it is still to be seen if the Arena will be profitful after 2013. The three important clubs of Recife (Nautico, Sport and Santa Cruz) have their own stadia, and may not be interest in playing at the Arena. There are rumors that Nautico is in talks to play matches in the Arena after 2013, but nothing is certain yet.

The Government of Bahia announced the date of the implosion of the  stadium Fonte Nova, in Salvador: August 29th 2010 (when a movie becomes available, it will be posted at this post).

Updated: August 29th 2010. Below, the implosion of Fonte Nova. Notice that, by design, a part of the stadium (where the radio and TV boxes used to be) was left standing; the reason is that that area was too close to residential areas, and the implosion could be dangerous (it will be demolished mechanically).

The lower ring and part of the higher ring were already demolished mechanically; the implosion will accelerate the removal of the remaining higher ring.

The implosion will be conducted by American company CDI – Controlled Demolition Inc; engineers of the company estimate that the buildings will come down in 17 seconds. All residents living within 250 meters from the stadium will be evacuated.

The old Fonte Nova has been closed since 2007, after the structure collapsed killing eight people.

The new Fonte Nova will have capacity for 50,000 attendants, plus 5,000 VIPs and journalists. There will be also a Museum, a panoramic restaurant, 62 toillets, 46 sanitaries, and a parking space with 2,000 covered slots.

Read more news about the Fonte Nova, the World Cup in Salvador, and check out hotels in Salvador.

For the renovation of Fonte Nova, the Government opened a bidding process won by the Consortium Arena Salvador 2014, formed by giants OAS and Odebrechet (the Consortium was the sole bidder – both OAS and Odebrechet have headquarters in Salvador, and both have strong political connections).

Estimated cost of the renovation of Fonte Nova is R$ 591 million (about US$ 330 million). As usual, BNDES will finance R$ 400 million, and the Consortium will finance the balance. The Consortium will explore the stadium for 35 years, and during the first 15 years, the Government will pay R$ 107 million per year; some Public Prosecutors say that the deal looks too good for the Consortium, and started investigation.

Below, an official press release by the Brazilian Government (which, of course, must have an optmistic view), with links and comments in italic.

Brazil will invest US$ 18.7 billion in infrastructure to host the 2014 FIFA World Cup, according to Brazilian Minister of Sports Orlando Silva Jr. Speaking on a teleconference today, the Minister stated that these resources will fund 50 projects in 12 Brazilian host cities (the figure mentioned by the Minister today is the same announced a few months ago: R$ 33 bn in infrastructure alone).

Nearly 78 percent of funding will be allocated by the public sector, with the remainder coming from private sector sources (even though that figure is questionable, it is certain that most funding will come from public coffers).

While stating that “we have to work hard” over the coming four years, the Minister emphasized that “Brazil will be ready on time to host a great World Cup.”

“We will work in a timely and transparent manner to prepare Brazil for the World Cup and for the future,” said Minister Silva (according to FIFA, work is not in a timely manner). “We are focusing on sustainable development, which will not only result in Brazil successfully hosting the 2014 matches, but also improve the country for the Brazilian people.”

The projects discussed during the teleconference include investments of US$ 6.5 billion to improve urban mobility, including the development of monorail lines, subways, light rail transit systems, transit terminals and other modes of transportation. Some of these projects, the Minister noted, are already under construction.

Minister Silva also reaffirmed that all planned stadiums will be completed in time for the 2014 World Cup, noting that construction has already started for the stadiums in the cities of Manaus, Cuiaba, Natal, Salvador, Belo Horizonte and Brasilia (only in Salvador is there some significant progress; Brasilia started today; in Natal, the process was suspended for suspicion of overpricing).

The other six stadiums are currently under the bidding process (everything is moving  very slow).

In the hotel sector, the National Bank for Economic and Social Development has assigned US$ 556.0 million to finance new ventures or remodel hotels with better terms than the market. The resources will be expanded according to demand from the private sector.

To address the aviation demands posed by the mega-event, US$ 3.1 billion has been assigned to enhance 13 national airports. The federal government forecasts a 10 percent increase in traffic through Brazilian airports during the World Cup (and they are already saturated). Investment in ports will be US$ 426 million.

Under the scope of the federal government, an executive group was created to supervise all of Brazil’s preparations as host of World Cup 2014. This group includes representatives of the Office of the Chief of Staff and the ministries of Sports, Planning, Finance and Tourism. In addition, the 12 host cities signed a Responsibility Matrix, which defines the responsibilities of each federative party for the organization of the 2014 games.

The federal government forecasts that the 2014 World Cup will generate an additional US$ 104 billion in economic activity for Brazil through investment, tourism, an increase in household consumption, and the recycling of resources.

Last year, the President of CBF announced that there was an idea to employ ex-convicts in the building of the stadiums of the World Cup 2014.

In Brazil, there is a huge supply of uneducated workers, which makes it very difficult for ex-convicts (most of them with little or no formal education) to find a job; using the World Cup to give a chance to those people seems like a good initiative.

Fortunately, the idea seems to be coming true.

The Governor of Brasilia announced that he just authorized the works in the National Stadium (the contract had been signed last week), and that 5% of the 1,500 workers will be ex-convicts (see also this CBF note).

These workers are in open or semi-open regimes, which means that they still have to report periodically to the prisons. Salary was not informed; minimum wage in Brazil is R$ 510, a bit less than US$ 300 – and workers have transportation and food assistance, plus social security.

The Ministry of Tourism in Brazil is still in the process of re-creating the Classification System of Means of Accommodation. Meanwhile, it is not easy for potential guests to find an unbiased evaluation of hotels in Brazil.

Veja, the most influential Brazilian magazine, published some time ago a guide of best hotels in Brazil; the guide sorts hotels by city and event (such as “the best hotel for the Sao Paulo Fashion Week in Sao Paulo“), and is still a good indicator of the finest hotels in Brazil.

In Sao Paulo: Hotel Unique (photo below),  Sofitel, Transamerica, Grande Hotel Senac. See other hotels in Sao Paulo.

In Rio de Janeiro: Le Meridien, Sheraton, Pousada Pardieiro. See other hotels in Rio de Janeiro.

In Santa Catarina: Plaza Blumenau. See other hotels in Florianopolis.

In Salvador: Bahia Othon. See other hotels in Salvador.

In Curitiba: Mabu Royal and Premium Hotel. See other hotels in Curitiba.

In Brasilia: Melia. See other hotels in Brasilia.

In Recife: Atlante Plaza. See other hotels in Recife.

In Natal: Serhs (photo below). See other hotels in Natal.

In Fortaleza: Bluetree. See other hotels in Fortaleza.

In and near Manaus: Tropical, Amazon River, Crowne Plaza. See other hotels in Manaus.

FIFA, CBF decided, with the support of the Federal Government of Brazil, that there should be twelve host cities in the World Cup 2014 (five other candidate hosts were declined).

From the start, that number looked excessive for, among other reasons, the long distances between cities in Brazil (much longer than in South Africa) and the fact that eight host cities would be enough to accommodate eight Groups of Teams (as it happens in the first stage of the World Cup).

More recently, both the Financial Times and The Guardian observed that, by building twelve stadiums, Brazil would be left after the WC with several White Elephants, i.e., venues which would not be used to stage local matches (given the lack of attendants), and would be left to an expensive abandonment.

This blog agrees with such thesis. This post shows that there are only eight cities in Brazil which justify a large football stadium (namely: Rio, Sao Paulo, Belo Horizonte, Porto Alegre, Curitiba, Recife, Salvador and Fortaleza); and if FIFA and CBF wanted, these host cities could easily offer ten or eleven stadiums.

So, which host cities are doomed to have a White Elephant?

First: Brasilia. The most important team in the capital is Brasiliense, which is currently in Second Division of the Brazilian League. Mane Garrincha, the stadium of Brasilia, only sees some crowd when Flamengo comes to play (most people in Brasilia support teams from other States).

Even so, Brasilia is bound to build National Stadium, probably the most expensive stadium for 2014. It must be said that Brasilia, the Federal District, by force of the Constitution, receives heavy subventions from the Federal Government – and hence is the least concerned with public debts.

Recife is an interesting case. The city has three traditional teams (Nautico, Sport and Santa Cruz) and a large, passionate, football crowd. However, the venue of the Cup will be a new stadium, built 20 km away from the town. This stadium, City of Cup, will probably remain not very busy after the Cup.

Manaus has no football tradition at all. The most traditional team in the State of Amazonas is Sao Raimundo, which was champion of Serie D in 2009, and this year will struggle in Serie C.

If the idea was to put the Amazon under the spotlight, then Belem would be a wiser choice. Belem teams, Remo and Paysandu, are not strong, but their fans are very passionate; even with both teams playing Serie B or C, the Belem stadium, Mangueirao, often ranks amongst those with the highest attendances in the whole country. Besides, Belem, also an Amazonic city, is much closer to the other hosts than Manaus.

Cuiaba was chosen because the Government wanted to include a city of Pantanal in the mix. Pantanal, the Brazilian wetlands, is one of the richest ecosystems in the World. The Mato Grosso League is never mentioned in national media.

Last is Natal. Natal is one of the top tourism destinations in Brazil, and will probably be visited by hordes of tourists during the Cup: it is about halfway between Recife and Fortaleza.

But finished the Cup, the new stadium will be used by ABC (currently in Serie C, and who owns a particular stadium, the Frasqueirao) and mostly America (struggling in Serie B, strong candidate to be demoted to Serie C). Too few people, to justify even the most costly design of all stadiums of the Cup (let alone the expensive actual building).

So, if things go on as planned, Brazil will be left after the Cup with a couple of White Elephants.