Estádio do Maracanã

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Maracanã

Full name	Estádio Jornalista Mário Filho
Location	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Coordinates	22°54′43.80″S, 43°13′48.59″W
Broke ground	August 2, 1948
Opened	June 16, 1950
Renovated	2007
Owner	Rio de Janeiro State Government
Surface	Grass
Architect	Waldir Ramos Raphael Galvão Miguel Feldman Oscar Valdetaro Pedro Paulo B. Bastos Orlando Azevedo Antônio Dias Carneiro
Capacity	95,000[1]
Field dimensions	110 x 75 m
Tenants
Flamengo Fluminense

The Estádio Jornalista Mário Filho, commonly called Estádio do Maracanã ("Maracanã stadium"), is an open-air stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Owned by the Rio de Janeiro State Government, it is named after the Maracanã neighbourhood in Rio de Janeiro. It was opened in 1950 to host the FIFA World Cup. Since then, it has mainly been used for football matches between the major football clubs in Rio de Janeiro, including Flamengo, Fluminense, Botafogo and Vasco da Gama. It has also hosted a number of concerts and other sporting events. Although the paid attendance at the final game of the 1950 FIFA World Cup was 199,500, the stadium currently seats 95,000 spectators.^[1] Despite the reduction in capacity it remains the largest stadium in South America, and the twelfth largest in the world.

It is due to host the World Cup Final in the 2014 World Cup, becoming the second stadium to host football's most important match twice after the Azteca Stadium in Mexico City.

Contents 1 History 1.1 Construction 1.2 Opening 1.3 Post World Cup years 1.4 Modern day 2 Non-footballing events 3 References 4 External links

[edit] History

[edit] Construction

After winning the right to host the 1950 FIFA World Cup, the Brazilian government sought to build a new stadium for the tournament. The plans for the stadium were drawn up by seven Brazilian architects, Miguel Feldman, Waldir Ramos,Raphael Galvão, Oscar Valdetaro, Orlando Azevedo, Antônio Dias Carneiro and Pedro Paulo Bernardes Bastos.^[2] The first stone was laid at the site of the stadium on August 2, 1948.^[3] With the first World Cup game scheduled to be played on June 24, 1950, this left little under two years to finish building. However, work quickly fell behind schedule, prompting FIFA to send Dr. Ottorino Barassi, the head of the Italian FA, who had organized the 1934 World Cup to help in Rio de Janeiro.

[edit] Opening

The opening match of the stadium took place on June 16, 1950. Rio de Janeiro All-Stars beat São Paulo All-Stars 3-1; Didi became the player to score the first ever goal at the stadium.^[4] Despite hosting a match, the stadium was still unfinished. It lacked toilet facilities and a press stand, and still looked like a building site. It was said that the stadium could house 200,000 standing spectators, making it one of the largest stadiums in the world at the time. Despite being unfinished, FIFA allowed matches to be played at the venue, and on June 24, 1950, the first World Cup match took place. Brazil beat Mexico with a final score 4-0, with Ademir becoming the first scorer of a competitive goal at the stadium with his 30th minute strike. 81,000 spectators attended the game. Eventually, Brazil progressed to the final round, facing Uruguay in the final match of the tournament on July 16, 1950. Brazil only needed a draw to finish top of the group, but Uruguay won the game 2-1, shocking the thousands who attended the game. This match has since been known as the "Maracanazo". The official attendance of the game was 199,500, with the actual attendance estimated to be about 210,000.^[5][6]

[edit] Post World Cup years

On March 21, 1954 a new official attendance record was set in the game between Brazil and Paraguay, after 183,513 spectators entered the stadium with a ticket and 177.656 in Fla-Flu (1963). In 1963, stadium authorities replaced the square goal posts with round ones, but it was still two years before the stadium would be fully completed. In 1965, 17 years after construction began, the stadium was finally finished.

Since the World Cup left Brazil in 1950, the Maracanã Stadium has mainly been used for club games involving four major football clubs in Rio— Vasco, Botafogo, Flamengo and Fluminense. The stadium has also hosted numerous domestic football cup finals, most notably the Copa do Brasil and the Campeonato Carioca.

In September 1966, Mário Filho, a Brazilian journalist, columnist and sports figure, died, leading to the administrators of the stadium renaming the stadium after him to Estádio Jornalista Mário Filho. However, the nickname of Maracanã continued to be used. Mario Filho was a prominent campaigner who was largely responsible for the stadium originally being built. In 1969, Pelé scored the 1,000th goal of his career at the Maracanã against Vasco in front of 125,000 spectators. In 1989, Zico scored his final goal for Flamengo at the Maracanã, taking his goal tally at the stadium to 333, a record that still stands as of 2007.

[edit] Modern day

On July 19, 1992, an upper stand in the stadium collapsed, leading to the death of three supporters and 50 more being injured.^[7] Following the disaster, the stadium's capacity was greatly reduced as it was converted to an all-seater stadium in the late 1990s. Despite this, the ground was classified as real estate in 1998, meaning that it could not be demolished. The stadium hosted the first ever FIFA Club World Cup final match between Vasco da Gama and Corinthians, which Corinthians won on penalties.

Following its 50th anniversary in 2000, the stadium underwent renovations which would increase its full capacity to around 103,000. After years of planning and nine months of closure between 2005 and 2006, the stadium was reopened in January 2007 with an all-seated capacity of 95,000.

The stadium is part of a complex that includes a gymnasium known by the name of Maracanãzinho, which stands for "the little Maracanã".

[edit] Non-footballing events

• Pope John Paul II has performed masses at the stadium on more than one occasion.
• To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the stadium, on January 26, 1981, Frank Sinatra played to a crowd of 150,000^[8].
• Both in 1980 and in 1983, volleyball matches between Brazil and the USSR played at the ground.
• Both Tina Turner and Paul McCartney made the Guiness Book of Records with figures for "Largest Paying Crowd to See a Single Performer" for concerts at the stadium - in 1988 (Break Every Rule Tour) and April 1990 (Flowers in the Dirt world tour), respectively. Although the exact numbers are disputed, both performances attracted over 180.000 people.
• From January 18 to 27, 1991, the stadium hosted the second edition of Rock in Rio, with Prince, Guns N' Roses, George Michael, INXS, a-ha and New Kids on the Block as headliners.
• The January 1995 edition of the Hollywood Rock festival consisted of two successive concerts by the Rolling Stones at the stadium.
• On July 13, 2007, the stadium hosted the opening ceremonies of the XV Pan American Games.
• Sting and Madonna are the only international popstars to have played dates at Maracanã on distinct occasions. Sting opened his ...Nothing Like the Sun world tour at the stadium on November, 1987. Approximately 20 years later, on December 8, 2007, he performed there again with The Police. Madonna played the venue in 1993, with the Girlie Show spectacle, and then again on December 14 and 15, 2008, as part of the Sticky & Sweet Tour.
• Kiss, Rush and the Backstreet Boys also played the venue. Rush's concert is documented on their live album Rush in Rio.

Preceded by Stade Olympique de Colombes Paris	FIFA World Cup Final Venue 1950	Succeeded by Wankdorf Stadium Bern
Preceded by FNB Stadium Johannesburg	FIFA World Cup Final Venue 2014	Succeeded by 2018 Final Venue
Preceded by Estadio Monumental Buenos Aires	Copa América Final Round Matches 1989	Succeeded by Estadio Nacional de Chile Santiago de Chile
Preceded by None	FIFA Club World Cup Final Venue 2000	Succeeded by International Stadium Yokohama Yokohama
Preceded by Estadio Olímpico Juan Pablo Duarte Santo Domingo	Pan American Games Opening and Closing Ceremonies 2007	Succeeded by Estadio Jalisco Guadalajara

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Maracanã

• (Portuguese) Official Maracanã website
• Photo Gallery of Museum and Game @ The Rio de Janeiro Photo Guide
• Maracanã video 2008

Venues of the 1950 FIFA World Cup

Eucaliptos (Porto Alegre) | Independência (Belo Horizonte) | Ilha do Retiro (Recife) | Maracanã (Rio de Janeiro) | Pacaembu (São Paulo) | Vila Capanema (Curitiba)

Campeonato Brasileiro Série A venues, 2008 v • d • e
Aflitos • Arena da Baixada • Barradão • Beira-Rio • Canindé • Couto Pereira • Ilha do Retiro • Ipatingão • João Havelange • Maracanã • Mineirão • Monumental • Morumbi • Orlando Scarpelli • Palestra Itália • São Januário • Serra Dourada • Vila Belmiro

Coordinates: 22°54′43.80″S 43°13′48.59″W / -22.9121667, -43.2301639