World Cup Brazil 2014

Rio de Janeiro is one of the host cities of the World Cup 2014; the schedule of matches wasn’t announced yet, but it is very likely that Maracanã, the largest stadium in Rio, be chosen as the stage for the final match of the Cup.

Rio de Janeiro, or Rio (the name means River of January), is the city in Brazil most known abroad (São Paulo receives more foreign visitors than any other city in Brazil, but most visitors come for business purposes, rather than tourism).

There a few reasons to explain this fame of Rio. First off, Rio was capital of Brazil from 1763 until 1960 (before Rio, Salvador was the capital; after Rio, Brasilia became capital); over nearly two centuries, Rio was the economic, cultural, administrative and diplomatic center of Brazil, attracting most of the international visitors who came to the country.

And going back home, these visitors had a lot to say about the wonders of Rio. The city has a natural scenery which few, if any, other cities in the world can match: tepid beaches with white sand (Copacabana and Ipanema being the most famous), a tranquil bay (Guanabara Bay), a placid lagoon (Rodrigo de Freitas), rocky peaks (Corcovado and Pão de Açúcar being the most known), preserved forests (Tijuca).

And all of this is framed by tropical weather, with sun and mild temperatures all year round, and a constant breeze blowing from the sea. Very few cities in the world can afford a view as beautiful as seen below, from behind the Christ statue, at the top of Corcovado (photo by the Brazilian Travel Authority):

On top of the natural wonders, there are the  wonderful people. Of course, in Rio there is poverty, violence, pollution. The cariocas (as people from the city of Rio are called) were considered the friendliest people in the world a few years ago; and more recently the city was elected the top Gay destination in the world – not a surprise for all who visited Rio and knew the high tolerance of cariocas towards any diversity: sexual, religious, ethnic, etc.

People in Rio enjoy life. The teams in the State are not the ones with most  winnings, but the fans in Rio are the most passionate in Brazil. No other city in Brazil has beaches as lively as those in Rio. New Year Celebration in Rio is probably one of the best in the world; why would somebody wait four hours in New York, under a freezing cold, to watch a ball coming down, when they can have a party like this?

And we didn’t even start to talk about the Carnival in Rio, which is simply dubbed as the Greatest Show on Earth.

Of course, this combination of cultural heritage, nice environment and friendly people created, over the years, a touristic infrastructure which ranks among the best in Brazil: hotels, restaurants, museums, city tours, theatres, travel agencies, and anything else a visitor may need, are always at hand. A good source of information is Rio official site.

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.