World Cup Brazil 2014

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.

This entry was posted on Sunday, April 11th, 2010 at 4:12 pm and is filed under cities, stadium.