World Cup Brazil 2014

On March 3rd 2010, FIFA was informed that the works in all stadiums for the World Cup 2014 were behind schedule; at that occasion, CBF and FIFA determined a new deadline: by May 3rd, every stadium should have at least started works – building or refurbishing – to catch up with FIFA’s schedule.

Today, May 3rd, exactly two months later, barely anything changed.

According to international news sources,  FIFA General Secretary Jerome Valcke declared: “I got a report on the status quo of the Brazilian stadiums. I have to say it is not very nice. There are a number (of stadiums) with red lights already, which is amazing. It is amazing how Brazil is already late. And I am not just talking about Morumbi or Maracana stadiums, I am talking about a number of stadiums.”

Much more bombastic, though, was an interview to Brazilian newspaper O Globo (click here); according to the newspaper, Volcke said:

I asked Ricardo Teixeira (president of CBF): how come you signed all those documents and don’t comply with them? We don’t want a rushed World Cup, organized at the last minute.

This year, you have Presidential election, nothing is going to happen. Next year, there is carnival. Are you going to start working only after carnival?

See also repercussions at Yahoo and Reuters.

Asked whether FIFA would consider to cut down the number of host cities from twelve to eight, Vakcke said that “for the time being, we have 12 host cities and we are not in a period where we have to make decisions”.

The Minister of Sports of Brazil presented yesterday the results of a study conducted by the Brazilian Governments about the impacts of the World Cup 2014 in the Brazilian Economy.

According to the study, from 2010 until 2019, the World Cup 2014 will aggregate R$ 183.2 billion to the Economy; at today’s rate of US$ 1 = R$ 1.75, or € 1 = R$ 2.33, that amount equals approximately US$ 105 billion or € 79 billion. According to IBGE, the official Brazilian Institute for Geography and Statistics, the Gross Domestic Product of Brazil in 2008 was about R$ 2.9 trillion, which means that the World Cup may bring an increase of about 6% to the Economy.

Still according to the study, the impact on the Economy will be more relevant in Brazil than it was in the Cups of France, Germany and South Africa.

Always according to the study, “direct investments will be of R$ 47.5 billion, to be invested in infrastructure, tourism and consumers expenditure; the balance, R$ 135.7 billion, will be of indirect investments, derived from the recirculation of money during the event.”

In infrastructure alone, total expenditure will be R$ 33 billion, 78% of which will come from the public sectors. An amount of R$ 5.7 billion will be invested in stadia, R$ 11.6 billion in urban mobility and R$ 5.5 billion in ports and airports. Other areas which will get a share of the investments: telecommunications, energy, health, tourism.

Tourism alone will aggregate R$ 9.4 billion to the Brazilian economy. During the World Cup, Brazil expects to receive 600,000 foreign tourists, and other 3.1 million Brazilians should also travel within the country.

The World Cup should create 710,000 jobs (330,000 permanent and 380,000 temporary jobs). Permanent payrolls will increase by R$ 6.8 billion, and temporary payrolls by 1.6 billion; this will cause an increase of more than R$ 5 billion in expenditures of the Brazilian families.

From 2010 to 2014, tax collection should increase by R$ 17 billion; according to the Government, this is 33 times bigger than the US$ 500 million in tax exemptions claimed by FIFA.

“The impact in the Gross National Product will be of R$ 135 billion, until 2019. This happens because investments, consumption and tourism continue, even after the World Cup.”

Last year, FIFA appointed the 12 Brazilian cities which should host matches of the World Cup 2014.

Last week, the Minister of Sports in Brazil, when talking about the delays in the works of the stadia, said that some cities could be excluded from the list of hosts; a few hours later, the Minister withdrew, and said that there are no plans of excluding any city.

FIFA demands a minimum of eight host cities. South Africa will have nine host cities and Germany had twelve. Does Brazil need to have twelve host cities? Can Brazil afford it?

The decision to approve the final host cities is up to FIFA; FIFA will certainly listen to CBF before taking a decision. FIFA and CBF see the World Cup as a business, which must return a profit.

It was by a request of the Brazilian Government that 12 cities were appointed as hosts (and there were still other candidates). The Government hopes to gain world exposition to as many cities as possible, during the World Cup. That would be good.

However, what’s the cost of such diversification?

The first stage of the Cup has eight groups, with four countries each; each group will have six matches. It’s only in this first stage that any host city may claim to host matches; past that, when come the rounds of 16, 8, quarter finals, semi finals and final, matches become more and more important, and FIFA will direct them to the bigger cities and stadia.

So, it is likely that smaller cities such as Manaus, Cuiabá and Natal, will end up building a stadium to host only three matches of the World Cup. These cities don’t have strong local teams to occupy the stadia once the Cup is finished. Past experiences have shown that a World Cup can drain host city’s coffers.

Besides, distances in Brazil are much longer than in South Africa or Europe. Transportation infrastructure in Brazil is poor. By lack of money or of competence, the works in all stadia are delayed. FIFA was concerned with the dealys in South Africa, and will try to avoid the same mistakes in Brazil.

It will be no surprise if FIFA decides to reduce the number of host cities in Brazil.

Castelão could well mean “big castle” in Portuguese; however, this arena of Fortaleza which will stage matches of the World Cup 2014 was named after Plácido Aderaldo Castelo, the Governor of Ceará who, in 1968, started building the stadium.

Castelão belongs to the Government of Ceará. The opening match, in 1973, between the teams of Ceará and Fortaleza, was attended by about 70,000 people. Today, the official capacity is 60,326 people.

Castelão is the largest stadium in the Northeast of Brazil; the other World Cup 2014 host cities in the Northeast are Natal, Recife and Salvador. This means that, if FIFA and CBF decide to bring an important match of the semifinals to the Northeast (which is a likely fact, since the Northeast is the area with the most beautiful beaches in Brazil), that match will be in Fortaleza.

Below, aerial photos of Castelão showing a match in 2005 (photos by O Povo) and the location of the stadium, in a suburban area, away from the beaches of Fortaleza.

Until 2014, the New Castelão  project should add to the stadium complex a shopping center and a hotel. A parking lot for 4,200 cars will be built underground. The roof of the stadium will be prolongued, and will cover all chairs.

Below, photos of the new Castelão presented to FIFA, designed by Vigglieca Architects.

On October 30th 2007 (nearly two and a half years ago), FIFA named Brazil as the host country of the World Cup 2014; and on June 1st 2009 (nine months ago), FIFA and CBF announced the twelve host cities of the Cup.

FIFA set March 1st 2010 as the deadline for all hosts to have started the works to build or refurbish the stadiums; today, March 3rd 2010, only three of the hosts have started some works (but not one brick has been laid – see report further below).

A few weeks ago, FIFA expressed preoccupation with the delays in South Africa;  “if the World Cup started tomorrow, we wouldn’t be ready”, said Secretary General Jerome Valcke. Yesterday, when celebrating the 100 days countdown to the 2010 World Cup, Valcke declared that “FIFA won’t have with Brazil the same patience they did with South Africa“.

CBF sent a message to all host cities, demanding explanations for the delays. A new deadline was set to start works: May 3rd. CBF said that cities which don’t comply with deadlines may loose their rights to host matches. The deadline for all stadia to be finished continues to be December 31st 2012, six months before the kick off of the Confederations Cup 2013.

Current situation of the stadiums:

Belo Horizonte: works scheduled to start on June 12nd; the Government is still looking for private partners to finance the works.

Brasília: works were scheduled to start in April; however, a case of corruption came out, and the ex-Governor was impeached and is under arrest. Political indefinition will probably cause delays.

Cuiabá: works scheduled to start on March 23rd.

Curitiba: Atlético Paranaense, owner of the stadium Arena da Baixada, estimates that they will need R$ 80 million to adapt the stadium to FIFA demands; now, they are looking for the money.

Fortaleza: works scheduled to April. The bidding process was started in December 2009, contractor to be known late March.

Manaus: Prosecutors required changes in the bidding process; works are scheduled to start in April.

Natal: bidding process to start in April; works to start in June.

Porto Alegre: Internacional, owner of Beira-Rio, claims that some internal refurbishments were already started; however, nothing in the structure was changed. Internacional is claiming tax exemptions to buy construction material to refurbish the stadium.

Recife: works to start in May. According to the local committee, delays were caused by late changes in the project to adapt it to environmental laws.

Rio de Janeiro: the local committee says that sub-soil studies have started on March 1st; clearly, a cosmetic measure to pretend to comply with FIFA deadlines. The bidding for the major works will be launched in April.

Salvador: the bidding process is finished, the contractor is defined, but the Goverment still need money and environment licenses to start the works.

São Paulo: probably (and suprisingly), Morumbi is the stadium with most problems. Neither Sao Paulo FC (owner of the stadium) nor the Governments want to spend money with the stadium. Some changes were made to the project which had been originally approved, but FIFA didn’t like the changes; FIFA President Joseph Blatter said that “Morumbi doesn’t meet the FIFA requirements to stage the opening match of the World Cup 2014“.

Arena da Baixada is the stadium in the city of Curitiba (see other host cities) which will host matches of the World Cup 2014.

There are two major teams in Curitiba: Atlético Paranaense, to which Arena da Baixada belongs, and Coritiba, which is owner of another stadium called Couto Pereira.

Above, a photo of Arena da Baixada in January 2010. The image shows that a good part of the stadium is yet to be completed.

From the beginning, it was known that, if Curitiba was chosen as host city, then Arena da Baixada would be chosen as the stadium, for it is clearly much more modern and in much better shape than Couto Pereira; in Porto Alegre, only other city with a similar situation, the dispute was much fiercer.

“Baixada” means “low lands”. This is because Atlético Paranaense is located in a relatively lower altitude, compared to the central area of Curitiba (where Coritiba is located).

The official name of the stadium is Estádio Joaquim Américo Guimarães. Mr. Guimarães was President of Internacional-PR, an old club which merged with América-PR, thus forming Atlético Paranaense; Mr. Guimarães started the stadium’s construction in 1912, and the inaugural match took place in 1914.

In 1997, the old stadium was demolished. In 1999, the new stadium, now renamed to Arena da Baixada, was opened (which explains why this is one of the most modern stadia in Brazil). In 2001, Atlético Paranaense was champion of the Brazilian League, and the stadium experienced its record attendance: 31,740 people.

From 2005 to 2008, the Japanese company Kyocera became a sponsor of Atlético, and the name of the stadium was changed to Arena Kyocera.

Below, an artistic image of the new Arena da Baixada.

The lateral side which today is incomplete will be finished, bringing the stadium closer to an Arena. Capacity will be increased from current 25,400 seats to 41,375 seats.  Two parking loots will be built, one inside the stadium fitting 1,908 vehicles and one outside the stadium fitting 7,500 vehicles. The restaurants and commercial sectors will be expanded.

Arena da Baixada is one of the three private stadiums to host matches of the Cup 2014 (the other ones are Beira-Rio and Morumbi). Because the stadium is private, the Governments (Federal, State and city) are less willing to inject public money to carry out the necessary works; this report of March 5th informs that, according to the managers of Atletico, works in the stadium will start in 2011 or, at the earliest, after the World Cup 2010 is finished.

Beira-Rio is a stadium located in Porto Alegre, capital city of the State of Rio Grande do Sul, the southernmost in Brazil.

It was well known that Porto Alegre would be chosen as one of the host cities of the World Cup 2014. However, it was also known that there would be a dispute between the two main teams of the State, Internacional and Grêmio, to decide whose stadium would stage the matches in the city (Porto Alegre is the only city in the world to have two teams World Champions of Football).

Grêmio has also a large and modern stadium, the Olímpico Monumental; however, following technical criteria, FIFA and CBF decided that Beira-Rio would be the stadium in Porto Alegre.

Beira-Rio means “by the river”. The stadium is also known as Gigante da Beira-Rio, which means “the Giant by the river”. The photo below (source) shows why: the stadium is big, and was built by the Guaíba, the river which washes Porto Alegre.

The more recent photo below shows the Beira-Rio and, besides it, the Gigantinho (Little Giant), the indoor arena which also belongs to Internacional.

The official name of Beira-Rio is Stadium José Pinheiro Borda. Mr. Borda was a Portuguese citizen who headed the building of the Stadium, between 1959 and 1969. Most of the bricks used in the building were donated by supporters of Internacional.

Interesting to notice that Internacional have today over 100,000 paying members, and Grêmio  has a similar number. In no other place in Brazil, do teams have such a high number of paying members (even popular teams like Flamengo or Sao Paulo have millions of supporters, but very few pay a monthly fee).

Beira-Rio was opened on April 6th 1969, with a match between Internacional and Benfica, from Portugal; inter won by 2×1. Record attendance was in 1972, in a match between Brazil and Rio Grande do Sul, with 106,554 attendants. Today, the capacity is for 56,000 attendants.

Beira-Rio is probably the Brazilian stadium closer to fully comply with the FIFA demands to host a World Cup match. All chairs have been recently replaced, the TV and telecommunication areas have been refurbished, the pitch has the best grass in Brazil, the access areas provide for easy arrival and clearance of visitors.

However, the stadium will gain some more improvements until 2014. The image below shows an artistic view of the New Beira-Rio, designed by Hype Architects.

New Beira-Rio will gain a shopping center and a hotel. The roof will be extended. More chairs will be added to the lower ring, bringing total capacity of Beira-Rio to 65,000 people.

With this capacity, Beira-Rio will compete shoulder to shoulder with Morumbi for the title of largest private stadium in Brazil (Beira-Rio, Morumbi and Arena da Baixada are the three only private stadia which will host matches of the World Cup 2014).

So, Beira-Rio is a strong candidate to host important matches of the World Cup, such as the opening match or one of the semi-final matches (the final will probably be in Maracanã).

Read also this blog about Beira Rio 2014.

Below, a brief description of all 12 stadia of the World Cup 2014.

Stadia are ordered by capacity, for this is a major criterium used by FIFA to decide where the most important matches (such as opening, quarter finals, semi finals and final matches) will be staged.

In 2014, it will be the second time that Brazil will host the FIFA World Cup; Brazil was also host of the 1950 World Cup (besides Brazil, only three other countries had the privilege of hosting twice the World Cup: Mexico in 1970 and 1986, France in 1938 and 1998 and Germany in 1974 and 2006).

In 2014, there will be 12 host cities; in 1950, there were only six: Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Curitiba, Porto Alegre, Belo Horizonte and Recife. Those were the six largest Brazilian cities in 1950 (Brasilia still didn’t exist; it was founded in 1960).

All these six cities will be host again in 2014. However, only one of the six stadiums used in 1950 will be used again in 2014: Maracanã; Maracanã was built for the 1950 World Cup, and staged both the opening and the final matches of that Cup.

Two of the 1950 are still in use and are regularly stage of important matches: Ilha do Retiro, in Recife, and Pacaembu, in Sao Paulo; both fit about 35,000 attendants, and with some refurbishment could reach 40,000, FIFA’s standard for a World Cup.

The other three stadia are still standing, but only stage occasional less important matches, and are too small to host a World Cup match: stadium Sete de Setembro (September 7th), in Belo Horizonte, will be replaced by Mineirão; stadium Durival de Brito, in Curitiba, will be replaced by Arena da Baixada; and stadium dos Eucaliptos, in Porto Alegre, will be replaced by Beira-Rio.

Above, a photo of the Sete de Setembro stadium  nowadays; it was in Sete de Setembro that United States beat England by 1 x 0.

The Americans would then go to Recife, where they lost to Chile by 5 x 2.  The English team played other two matches, both in Maracana. The Italians played only two matches, both in Pacaembu, São Paulo (the city outside Italy with the largest Italian community).

See details of all matches of the 1950 World Cup.

Maracanã was built to host the most important matches of the 1950 World Cup; unfortunately, the stadium also staged Maracanazo, the winning of Uruguay against Brazil in the final match.

Below, an image of Maracanã in 1950; as shown, the Brazilians attended matches in the stadium even before it was completely ready. Original capacity of Maracanã was 166,369, and current is 114,145.

Maracanã is a name of Indigenous origin. Maraca is a rustic musical instrument (basically, small stones in empty coconut shelves, which produce sounds when shaken) used by the indigenous. Maracanã means “sounds like maraca”, which was given by the Indigenous to a small river which runs across the area, from there to the neighbourhood, and from the neighbourhood to the stadium.

The official name of Maracanã is Mário Filho, a journalist who was very vocal in supporting the  building of the stadium.

Maracanazo is just one of the reasons why Maracanã will be the stage of the the final match of the 2014 World Cup; other cities – namely Sao Paulo, Brasilia and Belo Horizonte – are disputing the right to stage the opening match, but nobody in Brazil dares to consider a place other than Maracanã for the final.

Other reasons for the uncontested supremacy of Maracanã are: gathered the biggest crowd ever for a football match (nearly 200,000 people in the final of the 1950 Cup); gathered the largest audience for an artistic show (Paul McCartney, 1991, 184,368 people – not to be confused with the largest rock concert of all times, performed by the Rolling Stones in the nearby Copacabana beach to 2,000,000 people in 2006); historical performances by Frank Sinatra, Tina Turner, Madonna, Prince, the Stones; historical meetings called by Pope John Paul II; several of the most memorable matches of Brazilian football (including Pele’s 1000th goal).

Below, an image of Maracanã today. The arena is Maracanãzinho (little Maracanã), used for indoor sports. The swimming pool is Aquatic Park Julio Delamare, which used to be the most important venue for aquatic sports, but no longer  - a new complex called Maria Lenk replaced it (there are discussions about whether or not Julio Delamare should be demolished for the expansion of Maracanã).

The new Maracanã will have the capacity reduced to 90,000 people. Below, an artistic image of new Maracanã, produced by the architects hired by the government of Rio to prepare to project to be presented to FIFA.

Below, an image of the neighbourhood of new Maracanã. The stadium is situated in a populated area of Rio, and building the  infrastructure of access to and dispersion from the stadium will be a major challenge.

In the project below, catwalks (in orange) will be built linking the stadium to a large train station to be built; besides, the stretch of railway near the stadium will be roofed, and parking spaces will be built on those roofs.

Despite all challenges, it is certain that CBF, FIFA and Rio will do all they can to prepare Maracanã to justify the status of main temple of football in 2014.