The 20th FIFA World Cup will take place in Brazil from 12 June to 13 July 2014.
This will be the second time Brazil has hosted the competition, the first was the 1950 World Cup. Brazil will become the 5th country to host the World Cup twice, after Germany, France, Italy and Mexico. It will be the first World Cup to be held in South America since the 1978 World Cup in Argentina, the first time two consecutive World Cups are held outside Europe and the first time two consecutive World Cups are staged in the Southern Hemisphere.
In March 2003 FIFA announced that the tournament would be held in South America, in line with its policy of rotating the right to stage the World Cup amongst different confederations. In June 2003, the South American Football Confederation CONMEBOL announced that Argentina, Brazil, and Colombia wanted to host the 2014 World Cup. By March 2004, the CONMEBOL associations had voted unanimously to adopt Brazil as their sole candidate.
Brazil formally declared its candidacy in December 2006 and Colombia followed a few days later. The Argentina bid never materialized. In April 2007, Colombia officially withdrew its bid, Francisco Santos Calderón the vice president of Colombia announced that instead Colombia would be hosting the 2011 FIFA U-20 World Cup. With this development, Brazil became the only official candidate to host the 2014 event.
The allocation of places for the final tournament was decided on 3 March 2011, with the distribution of the 31 places determined through the qualification process unchanged from that for the World Cup in South Africa.
The qualification draw for the 2014 World Cup was held at the Marina da Glória in Rio de Janeiro on 30 July 2011.
Additional berths determined thru qualification:
Europe (UEFA)
53 teams competing for 13 places
South America (CONMEBOL)
9 teams competing for 4 or 5 places, playoff to determine exact number
North, Central American and the Caribbean (CONCACAF)
35 teams competing for 3 or 4 berths, with playoff to determine exact number
Africa (CAF)
52 teams competing for 5 places
Asia (AFC)
43 teams competing for 4 or 5 places, playoff to determine exact number
Oceania (OFC)
11 teams competing for 0 or 1 berth, playoff to determine exact number
According to current FIFA practice, no more than one city may use two stadiums, and the number of host cities is limited between eight and ten. The Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) requested permission to assign 12 cities hosting World Cup Finals. December 2008, FIFA gave the green light to the 12-city plan.
Even before the 12 host cities were selected, there were few doubts that the chosen venue for the final match will be the Maracanã in Rio de Janeiro, which also hosted the decisive match of the 1950 FIFA World Cup. Originally the CBF's intentions were to have the opening match at Estádio do Morumbi in São Paulo, the largest city in Brazil. However, on 14 June 2010 the stadium was excluded from hosting games in the tournament due to a failure to provide financial guarantees for the improvements needed to have it as an eligible venue. At the end of August 2010, the CBF announced that the new Corinthians Stadium would host the matches in São Paulo.
On 31 August 2009 the state airport management agency Infraero unveiled a €3 billion investment plan to upgrade airports of ten of the venue cities, increasing their capacity and comfort for the hundreds of thousands of tourists expected for the Cup. Natal and Salvador are excluded because their upgrade works have been recently completed. A significant amount (55.3%) of the money will be spent overhauling the airports of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. The investment figure covers works to be carried out up to 2014.
Rio de Janeiro
In 2014, the Rio de Janeiro International Airport will have a BRT line that connects the airport with Barra da Tijuca, a neighborhood in the West Zone of the city, which is the headquarters of 2016 Olympic Games. This will connect the BRT station in Barra da Tijuca with the South Zone (Copacabana, Ipanema, Leblon, etc.), the stadium, and the rest of the city is through the Rio de Janeiro Metro.
Development programme
São Paulo
In 2014, the São Paulo International Airport will have a metro line that connects the airport with downtown São Paulo and the stadium. The new line integrates the São Paulo Metro and Greater São Paulo Metro.
Brasília
In 2014, the Brasília International Airport will have a light rail line that connects the airport with downtown Brasília and the stadium. The new line integrates the Brasília Metro.
Porto Alegre
In 2012, the Porto Alegre International Airport will have a monorail line that connects the airport with Aeroporto metro station of Greater Porto Alegre Metro. That will connect the airport with downtown Porto Alegre and the stadium.
Salvador
In 2014, the Salvador International Airport will have a metro line that connects the airport with downtown Salvador and the stadium. The new line integrates the Salvador Metro.
Fortaleza
In 2014, the Fortaleza International Airport will have a metro line that connects the airport with downtown Fortaleza and the stadium. The new line integrates the Fortaleza Metro.
Manaus
In 2014, the Manaus International Airport will have a monorail line that connects the airport with downtown Manaus and the stadium.
Cuiabá
In 2014, the Cuiabá International Airport will have a light rail line that connects the airport with downtown Cuiabá and the stadium.
Natal
In 2014, the Natal International Airport will have a light rail line that connects the airport with downtown Natal and the stadium.
Belo Horizonte
In 2014, Belo Horizonte International Airport will have a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) line that connects the airport with downtown Belo Horizonte and the stadium. The BRT system will integrates the Belo Horizonte Metro.
Curitiba
In 2014, the Curitiba International Airport will have a BRT line that connects the airport with downtown Curitiba and the stadium. The future BRT line of International Airport will add to the Rede Integrada de Transporte of Curitiba, one of the largest BRT systems of the world.
Recife
In 2014, the Recife International Airport will have a BRT line, that connects the airport with downtown Recife, metropolitan area, and the stadium. The BRT system will integrates the Recife Metro.
Maracanã Stadium, in the city of Rio de Janeiro, has been chosen for the final match. Maracanã was inaugurated in the 1950 World Cup. For the 2014 World Cup, among other adaptations, a new cover will be built. The project also includes construction of a building for parking, above the lines of Supervia and subways, with 3,500 parking spaces. The estimated investment is R$ 460 million. According to the study of Sinaenco, there is a need to improve the visibility for spectators in the first few rows behind the cabins in the Maracanã, redesign the facilities for people with disabilities, and provide general health reform.
The New Corinthians Stadium, in the city of São Paulo, has been chosen for the opening ceremony. São Paulo's chances of staging the opening ceremony of soccer's 2014 World Cup improved after FIFA accepted a guarantee that SC Corinthians Paulista's new stadium will be completed in time for the tournament. The stadium, being built by Odebrecht SA, will cost €500 million, according to Corinthians President Andres Sanchez. BNDES, the national development bank, pledged €250 million and the city of São Paulo will provide a property fund worth €250 million.
In 1950, host cities of the World Cup were concentrated in the southeast and south. In 2014, the host cities are more evenly distributed. Each host city is the capital of its state. The selection covers all the main regions of Brazil and as a result the tournament will require significant long-distance travel for teams. Brazil is the fifth largest nation in the world by geographical size.Although Brazil straddles the equator, all the proposed match venues are in the southern hemisphere, meaning that the games will be held in the winter period (although most venues for the tournament are situated in the tropics). The cold front comes from Antarctica causing cold weather in the south and central part of the country, and rainy weather in the north. However, the future stadiums are being prepared for these conditions.
FIFA agreed to increase the number of host cities from ten to 12 because of the size of Brazil. "In the very beginning, ten cities were going to be chosen, but thanks to the influence of [CBF president] Ricardo Teixeira and the interest of the whole country, we agreed increasing the number to twelve," said FIFA president Sepp Blatter. Teixeira briefed FIFA members about all 17 candidate cities.
Brazil
United States of America
Finland