World Cup Brazil 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.

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.

A few weels ago, FIFA officially informed that “Morumbi stadium is excluded from the 2014 FIFA World Cup“. That same note estates that  the “City of São Paulo sent recently to the LOC a sixth project, which will not be examined as it has been received long after the deadline.

Today, Morumbi is the second biggest stadium in Brazil, second only to Maracanã (for 2014, if the respective projects go as planned, other stadia could be bigger than Morumbi, such as Beira-Rio). The stadium belongs to Sao Paulo FC, and for a long time it was the biggest private stadium in the World.

Why then Morumbi, which was claiming to host the opening match of the World Cup, was excluded from the event? The answer is, basically, money.

São Paulo FC owns the stadium, and should pay most expenses to adapt the venue to meet FIFA requirements. It was estimated that it would take R$ 650 million (about US$ 350 million) to implement the design presented to FIFA (the sixth project mentioned by FIFA was an attempt to reduce the cost to R$ 265 million, or about US$ 150 million). It looks like Sao Paulo FC double checked the numbers, and decided that the investment was not worthy.

The public stadiums don’t suffer the same problem, because the Federal Government opened generous credit lines to finance the building or restoring of stadiums; the Governments taking the loans still have to provide collaterals, but Governors don’t hesitate in taking the money – for the World Cup brings immediate political gains, whereas the debts will be paid in the distant future. São Paulo FC and the owners of the other private stadia talked to the Federal Development Bank about loans, but they didn’t get into agreement.

The Governments  of São Paulo (both the State and the city) were not much enthusiastic about pumping money into the project, either. Besides adapting the stadium, FIFA requires extensive changes in the neighbourhood, such as more transportation, more parking space, more and wider access streets – and all of this is incumbent to the Governments.

Morumbi is one of the poshest quarters in Sao Paulo, and the Governments knows that any infrastructure intervention here is very expensive. Both the State and the city of Sao Paulo are ruled by the same Party coalition (more to the right wing than the Federal Government), and they often say that spending money with basic health and education could be wisere than funding the World Cup – the Mayor of Sao Paulo is in South Africa, and declared that “if Sao Paulo can’t host the matches, so be it”.

It is not a coincidence that, along with Sao Paulo, Curitiba is the host city which causes most preoccupation to CBF. The stadium of Curitiba, Arena da Baixada, is also private owned, and the city is also known for being a wise spender of public money. And it will be no surprise if Beira-Rio, in Porto Alegre (the third private owned stadium), also becomes reason of concern soon.

Today, June 11th 2010, we saw the opening match of the World Cup 2010 (South Africa 1 x 1 Mexico).

At the very moment that the ball started rolling (4 pm, local time), the temperature in Johannesburg was 18º C (64º F); the matches which happen at night experienced even lower temperatures. And, as the Southern Hemisphere moves into winter, the temperatures should fall even more.

Update: on June 15th, the day that Brazil played against North Korea, the temperature in Johannesburg was -4º C (-24º F).

Considering that Brazil is also in the Southern Hemisphere, what temperatures can be expected during the World Cup, which should take place between June and July of 2014?

The graphs below show the expected weather for today, June 6th 2010, in all Brazilian cities which will stage games of the Cup. The graphs show minimum temperature, maximum temperature, sunny/rainy weather and intensity of Ultra-Violet rays.

In the cities by the sea (namely: Natal, Recife, Fortaleza, Salvador and Rio de Janeiro), average temperatures are high, even during the winter. In Manaus and Cuiabá, which are located near the Equatorial Line, temperatures are also high during all year.

In the Southern cities of Porto Alegre and Curitiba, temperatures are expected to be low during the matches. Visitors should definitively bring their coats.

Belo Horizonte and São Paulo are located near the Tropic Line, and both are at a high altitude (around 800 m, 2,500 ft); this makes the weather of these cities more unpredictable.

The World Cup 2014 will be warmer than the World Cup 2010.

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.

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.

On June 1st 2009, FIFA announced the twelve host cities of the World Cup 2014 in Brazil.

There was a big expectation about those host cities. These cities will benefit in several aspects from the World Cup, such as investments in infrastructure and massive international marketing.

Some of the cities knew that they would be a host. Rio de Janeiro is the best known city in Brazil (Maracanã is already defined as stage of the final match); Sao Paulo is the richest city in Brazil; Brasilia, the capital of the country (Sao Paulo and Brasilia are still fighting to host the opening match of the Cup); Salvador, Recife, Belo Horizonte, Curitiba and Porto Alegre are important economic and cultural regional hubs of Brazil.

So, this makes eight cities with a guaranteed spot. It was of interest of the Brazilian Government and CBF that cities representatives of all regions in Brazil were chosen, so as to show to the world the rich variety of Brazilian culture and scenarios. The other four cities were chosen according to these criterium.

So, in the Northeast of Brazil, the region where the sun shines all year long, the cities of Natal and Fortaleza were chosen. These cities are rather small, but are popular destinations for Brazilian tourists; the well developed tourist infrastructure (hotels, airports, etc) was a big advantage of these cities.

There had to be a host in the Amazon, a region of Brazil which attracts world attention. Rio Branco was a candidate, but, too far into the jungle and with poor infrastructure, had no chances; Manaus and Belém were the stronger candidates. Belém had the advantage of being nearer the rest of Brazil and the rest of the world. Manaus won, thanks to a stronger political influence and probably because it is located deeper into the Amazon (an eco-tourism network, albeit incipient, is better developed in Manaus than in Belém).

Likewise, there should be a host in Pantanal, the Brazilian wetlands, one of the richest ecosystems in the World; Cuiaba and Campo Grande were the candidates.  Campo Grande is located right in the middle of Pantanal, and was favorite to win; however, thanks to a better project, Cuiabá was chosen.

Besides Belém and Campo Grande, other Brazilian cities were candidates to host but were not chosen: Goiânia (despite having one of the most modern stadiums in Brazil, the Serra Dourada) was too close to Brasília, and CBF wanted to spread the hosts; Florianópolis is a mid sized city in the South, with a strong European heritage, and was surprisingly not chosen (Natal took the place of Florianópolis).

So, these cities were candidates to host, but didn’t make it: Campo Grande, Goiânia, Florianópolis, Rio Branco and Belém.

On May 31st 2009, FIFA announced the 12 host cities of the World cup 2014 in Brazil.

The cities are:

1) Rio de Janeiro. Stadium: Maracana. Rio Travel Guide.

2) São Paulo. Stadium: Morumbi. Biggest Brazilian city.

3) Belo Horizonte. Beautiful Horizon.

4) Salvador. Party everyday.

5) Curitiba. Stadium: Arena da Baixada.

6) Porto Alegre. Stadium: Beira-Rio. The coldest of the host cities.

7) Brasília. The capital of Brazil.
Cuiaba. World Cup in the Pantanal.

9) Recife. World Cup by the beach.

10) Fortaleza. Stadium: Castelão. World Cup by the beach.

11) Natal. Stadium: Arena das Dunas. World Cup by the beach.

12) Manaus. World Cup in the Amazon.