Portal da Copa is the Brazilian government’s official website for the World Cup 2014. Those interested in an idealized view of how preparations for the World Cup are making steady progress should read it often. It has a version in English with the name World Cup Portal and a version in Spanish with the title Portal de la Copa.

We’ll turn to it from time to time as it is the right place to search from the institutional viewpoint.

Porto Alegre will host its fun fest in the centre of town.

The Brazilian government’s official website on the World Cup 2014 releases on a regular basis reports on the progress being made on the construction or adaptation of the world cup stadiums. The reports include high resolution photographs.

You can have a look at the most recent report at See how the construction works had progressed in the World Cup stadiums by the end of February 2012. Bear in mind this is a government’s site so any mention of lack of progress will have to be found reading between the lines.

An armadillo would be the mascot of the Brazil World Cup 2014, or at least that’s what we are being told on a note published at revista Veja. According to the source, although the official announcement will only be made in October, FIFA would have already chosen the mascot for the World Cup (and it isn’t one of the candidates we mencioned at World Cup mascot – Brazilians will be heard)

The mascot would be a tatu-bola, the Brazilian Three-banded Armadillo. We prefer to wait to hear the official announcement before giving any more details of what at this stage can only be described as an unconfirmed rumour.

The governor of the state of Rio Grande do Sul has just expressed doubts that its capital, Porto Alegre, will host world cup games. The reform of the Beira-Rio stadium came to a halt in June 2011 and no movement has been seen there since that date.

International is the owner of the Beira-Rio stadium. Its local rival, Gremio, is building a new arena that should be ready by the end of the year…

Less than 500 days away from the initial kick-off of the Confederations Cup, seen as many as the dress rehearsal for the World Cup, to take place in 2013, FIFA has just announced the logo for the competition.

The company behind the construction of the Corinthians stadium in Itaquera, the choice for São Paulo in the World Cup, has released a video with new computer generated images of the stadium.

The newspaper Folha de São Paulo also published recently images of the external and internal aspect of the Mineirão stadium in Belo Horizonte: Veja novas imagens do projeto de como deve ficar o Mineirão.

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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.