World Cup Brazil 2014

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.

This entry was posted on Friday, July 23rd, 2010 at 5:41 pm and is filed under cities, stadium.