According to Corinthians, owner of the stadium, in a report by Globo, the new São Paulo stadium has progressed to a 25% of the total amount of work needed. We’ve already seen at the blog how the stadium will look like when it is completed.
It will be the most expensive stadium of the World Cup and it is expected to be ready at the beginning of 2014. It might well be so as the stadium will host the opening game of the World Cup as well as five other games, including a semi-final. Delay in the construction of the stadium meant São Paulo lost its place in the 2013 Confederations Cup.
Russia’s World Cup preparations ahead of Brazil’s
By · CommentsJoseph Blatter, FIFA presidente, declared on a press conference a while ago that Russia’s preparations for the 2018 World Cup are well ahead of Brazil’s preparations of the 2014 World Cup. Problems with airports, roads and public transportation as well as the delays in the construction of the stadiums are the main causes for concern.
World Cup mascot – Brazilians will be heard
By · CommentsAny large sporting event has its mascot and the World Cup Brazil will be no different. The Brazilian Sports Minister declared this week that an internet contest will be held to help choose the mascot for the World Cup. The contenders are a macaw and a jaguar (representing the Brazilian wildlife) and a saci, a one-legged character from Brazilian folklore.
We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again. The World Cup is, above all, a money-making event. Profits resulting from the world cup are shared by a few and the absolute ruler over those profits is FIFA. So when delays in the world cup preparations endanger the money-making machine, FIFA reacts. On the receiving end, an incompetent Brazilian government responsible for alarming preparation delays. A government that also wants its own share of the deal. The fight is served.
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world cup tickets to go on sale on August 2013
By · CommentsFIFA has agreed that tickets for the Brazil World Cup 2014 will go on sale from August 2013. During the first stage of the selling process, there will be a massive draw among those fans that request tickets beforehand. It will be an open draw with equal chances for everyone taking part.
FIFA also agreed that most of the tickets will be sold exclusively to Brazilians. Do not worry, a substantial share of those tickets will eventually end up in the hands of foreign supporters.
A couple of weeks ago we mentioned speculation around the price of the tickets on world cup tickets to cost an average of R$380.
World Cup Brazil 2014: the calendar
By · CommentsAfter endless headaches the calendar for the World Cup 2014 is finally ready. A few outstanding facts are:
- the opening game will take place in the new Itaquerão stadium in São Paulo. The Brazilian national team will face a yet unknown rival.
- the final will take place in the Maracanã stadium in Río de Janeiro.
- Brasilia, with no footballing tradition to speak of, will receive the most matches, seven in total – same amount as Rio de Janeiro. Porto Alegre, with a glorious footballing history, will receive only four matches, same as Manaus or Cuiabá. Politics and football speak different languages.
- if Brasil doesn’t make it to the final it will play no matches in Rio de Janeiro.
We’ve prepared for our readers a calendar with all the matches. Only Brazil is qualified to date. You will see that, depending on the group, teams will embark on lengthy trips from one host city to another.
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video: tourist sights at the state of Rio de Janeiro
By · CommentsThis blog post is the ninth on a series showing official videos devoted to the states that will host world cup games.
The ninth video is dedicated to the state of Amazonas:
We have plenty of information on Rio de Janeiro at the Brazil Travel Blog. Check the list of entries out at destination: Rio de Janeiro.
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video: tourist sights at the state of Paraná
video: tourist sights at the state of São Paulo
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video: tourist sights at the state of Rio Grande do Norte
video: tourist sights at the state of Bahia
video: tourist sights at the state of Pernambuco
video: tourist sights at the state of Rio Grande do Sul
video: tourist sights at the state of Amazonas
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caxirola, the Brazilian vuvuzela is launched
By · Comments
The renowned Brazilian musician Carlinhos Brown has created and launched a musical instrument called caxirola. He hope it will become the Brazilian vuvuzela during the 2014 World Cup.
The instrument is inspired on the caxixi, of African origin.
To be honest with you, we felt vuvuzelas were one of the unpleasant sides of the South African World Cup. They anihilated the purest football atmosphere. The chants of the supporters suddenly became meaningless and all you could hear for the duration of the game were the unbearable vuvuzelas, playing regardless. We hope if caxirolas ever become popular they will be heard more outside the football stadiums than inside them.
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an endless dispute: FIFA and the Brazilian government
By · CommentsThe endless dispute over aspects of the organization of the World Cup 2014 has taken a central stage over the last few weeks. The Brazilian government and FIFA at odds over the World Cup. Brand antipiracy rule irritates FIFA contains an introduction in the English language to aspects of the dispute. If you read Portuguese, you will find more background information at O que a Fifa quer controlar na Copa do Mundo and at O jogo duro entre Brasil e Fifa. The Economist’s Own goals from Senhor Futebol paints anything but a rosy picture of the guys behind the Cup.
There is no black and white in this story. The goodies becomes the baddies with great ease, and viceversa.
On the one hand, a legitimate and sovereign goverment defending the interests of Brazil and a sporting organization, FIFA, behaving in a manner that would do Al Capone proud.
On the other hand, Brazilian quirky local laws defending the priviledges of a few and FIFA’s rightful condemnation of them. For instance, a few Brazilian states grant off-duty cops to soccer stadiums. Can you imagine that happening during the World Cup?
It is a truly fascinating dispute as once again it highlights the profoundly anti-democratic nature of FIFA as well as revealing what the World Cup is really about: money.
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The World Cup Bill, currently under consideration at the Brazilian Congress, establishes that the central government, the state goverments and the city councils can declare bank holidays whenever a world cup game takes places within their boundaries. Yet another reason for the world cup Brazil to become a giant party.
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