Here is a short timeline and some background information about the FIFA World Cup 2014 football competition in Brazil. This most widely viewed sports event is held every four years where a world champion will be chosen. FIFA stands for Federation Internationale de Football Association.
source: tiki-toki.com
30th October 2007
FIFA OFFICIALLY ANNOUNCES THAT BRAZIL WILL HOST 2014 WORLD CUP
Brazil wins the right to host the event on as the only country to enter the bidding process.
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The FIFA World Cup 2014 tournament, 20th FIFA international football competition took place in Brazil from June 12 to July 13, 2014. It was Brazil’s second time to be the host country for FIFA, the last time being in 1950. The other countries who have hosted this huge sports event are Germany, France, Italy and Mexico.
Teams from 32 nations will participate and vie for the tournament finals. The games of the FIFA World Cup 2014 will be held in 12 cities throughout Brazil. The host cities were announced in May 2009. They are listed in alphabetical order below.
- Belo Horizonte
- Brasilia
- Cuiabá
- Curitiba
- Fortaleza
- Manaus
- Natal
- Porto Alegre
- Recife
- Rio de Janeiro
- Salvador
- São Paulo
Natal, the capital city of the state of Rio Grande do Norte has been chosen to play host to thousands of die-hard football fans and tourists on the forthcoming FIFA World Cup 2014 games.
Below is an excerpt from 2014 World Cup City Focus: Natal, Robbie Blakeley’s article about Natal on The Rio Times.
source: riotimesonline.com
Tucked away on Brazil’s North-East coast, Natal has not always been a traditional holiday spot for visitors, and it is only with the building boom some twenty years ago that more people from outside have started to really get to know it.
The city offers a considerably more diverse range of attractions than some of its fellow hosts, and its famed Festa Junina is always in full swing during the second half of June. Dressing up in peasant costumes, a substantial amount of drinking and a vast array of fireworks carries on for fifteen days, and will help to divert some attention away from all things soccer related and give visitors a true flavor of the area.
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Football Teams
The top three soccer teams in Rio Grande do Norte hail from Natal. They are ABC Futebol Clube and América Futebol Clube – Natal’s superstars and constant rivals – and Alecrim Futebol Clube. Both América and Alecrim usually play to home town crowds at the João Machado stadium. ABC’s game venue is usually the Maria Lamas Farache stadium, also referred to as the Frasqueirão.
Here’s another excerpt from Robbie Blakeley’s article.
Natal is home to three soccer teams, América de Natal, ABC and Alecrim, but not one has graced the first division of the Brasilerão, and the biggest claim to fame any of them has had came on February 4th, 1968, when Brazil legend Garrincha played a friendly for Alecrim in the twilight of his career.
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Arena das Dunas: Game Venue for Natal World Cup 2014
To comply with the World Cup 2014 stadium construction plans, the old Machadao Stadium in Lagoa Nova will have to be replaced by the modern Arena das Dunas. The demolition of the old stadium commenced on November 2011. The Dunas Arena, costing about US$180 million, will be able to seat 45,000 spectators.
The Governor of Rio Grande do Norte, Rosalba Ciarlini, has given her go ahead to build the Dunas Stadium in preparation for World Cup 2014 which Natal is one of the hosting cities. The new stadium will be built on the site of the old Machadao stadium. It is a major project that will generate many jobs and make Natal a first class destination when the new Sao Goncalo de Amarante international airport is ready. Micarla de Souza, Mayor of Natal, said with great emotion that the nearly 1 million population of Natal will benefit of all improvements that the World Cup is bringing to its citizens. She added: “All the work and investments will not go away when the world cup goes”.
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Robbie Blakeley’s article on The Rio Times World Cup Host City: Natal Progress provides more information about the construction of the new Dunas Arena for the World Cup 2014 games.
source: riotimesonline.com
Building works began in January 2011 and the estimated cost of the project is R$417 million. Yet of that figure, a whopping R$396.5 million is in the form of a bank loan, which is where the program has faced obstacles in freeing money from the bank.
Constructors DAS are in charge of the bricks and mortar, but out of all the stadium looked at thus far, Natal’s is in the most danger of ending up incomplete. Along with São Paulo, the pair could be dropped should FIFA decide to reduce the number of host cities from twelve to ten.
Should the stadium be completed on time, it will have a 43,000 capacity and will see four games during the tournament, all during the group stages. The matches will take place on June 13th, 16th, 19th and 24th.
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Despite the deadline that World Cup 2014 organizers and the Brazil government have agreed upon, construction of the stadium, roads, infrastructures and airport improvements have been delayed.
15th October 2011
BRAZIL BEGINS TO LAG BEHIND
As of Oct. 1, 2011, only nine of 49 planned urban-transport schemes in Brazilian host cities had begun. Airport upgrades were running behind schedule too, and more than half had been temporary fixed. An Economist article said that, “FIFA President Sepp Blatter had written to Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff expressing concern, but that Rousseff had cause to worry about FIFA. Just when she was doing her best to clean up the country’s politics—she has sacked four ministers over corruption claims—the World Cup is being run by one of football’s most tarnished figures (Ricardo Teixeira). And claims of sleaze keep on coming.”
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Natal World Cup 2014
On April 2013, after more than two years of delay, Natal’s urban improvement project for the FIFA World Cup 2014 sports event have been resumed when the huge volume of investment promised finally comes in.
Brazil’s local organizing committee and FIFA expressed confidence that everything will be ready in time for the big game in 2014.
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