Venues
Eighteen locations were presented as potential World Cup host cities:
Belém,
Belo Horizonte, Brasília,
Campo Grande, Cuiabá,
Curitiba,
Florianópolis, Fortaleza,
Goiânia,
Maceió,
Manaus,
Natal, Porto
Alegre, Recife, Rio
Branco, Rio de Janeiro, Salvador and São
Paulo.
FIFA proposes that no more than one city may use two stadiums, and
the number of host cities is limited between eight and ten. The proposal
of Ricardo Teixeira, the then-Head of the Brazilian Football
Confederation, to use twelve host cities in "the interest of the
whole country" was however accepted by FIFA in December 2008.
The twelve host cities were announced on 31 May 2009, with Belém,
Campo Grande, Florianópolis, Goiânia and Rio Branco being rejected;Maceió had already withdrawn in January 2009. The twelve selections –
each the capital of its state – cover all the main regions of Brazil and create more evenly distributed hosting
than the 1950 finals in Brazil provided, when matches were concentrated
in the south-east and south.As a result the tournament will require significant long-distance
travel for teams.
A reported US$3.47 billion has been spent on stadium projects.Five of the chosen host cities have brand new venues built specifically
for the World Cup, while the Estádio Nacional Mané Garrincha
in the capital Brasilia was demolished and
rebuilt, and the remaining six are being extensively renovated.The Estádio do Maracanã in Rio de Janeiro,
which already holds the record attendance for a FIFA World Cup Finals
match (199,854), is the
largest of the stadiums and will stage the final. The CBF originally intended to
host the opening match at São Paulo's Estádio do Morumbi but it was dropped in
2010 and replaced by the Arena Corinthians after failing to provide financial
guarantees for the required improvements.
The first new stadium, the Castelão, in Fortaleza,
became operational in January 2013.According to Joe Leahy of the Financial Times, the works in the Castelão, "could set a
precedent for other sporting public works", since the project "came in
within budget and cheaper per seat" than the Maracanã stadium in Rio.Six of the venues were used during the 2013 Confederations Cup.Six further stadiums are however forecast to miss FIFA's original 31
December 2013 deadline for completed works.The completion of the new Arena Corinthians has been hindered by a
fatal crane collapse in November 2013 that destroyed part of the stadium
and killed two construction workers.
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