ESTADIO MARACANA

Maracana stadium in Rio is one of the worlds largest and most famous soccer grounds in the world, hosting crowds of up to 200,000 people. The stadium was built for the 1950 world cup, and was inaugurated with a game between Rio and Sao Paulo, on June 16 the same year. Since then it was refurbished for the Pan-American Games in 2007.

The Brazilian team played there first game against Mexico on June 24th 1950. Brazil swept Mexico with a 4-0 win and a month later gathered a crowd of 200,000 to watch there team play Uruguay in the final game. Brazil fought hard , but Uruguay took the win in a 2-1 victory over the home team, and this was the start of the eternal rivalry between the two teams.

Soccer is not the only records the stadium has set. Famous artists have also attracted massive crowds including Paul McCartney, Kiss, Frank Sinatra, The Rolling Stones, Madonna, Tina Turner, and Sting. Pope John Paul ll had his public appearances here which attended by thousands in 1980 and 1997. The second Rock in Rio festival was also held here packing in thousands.

If you know your trip dates well in advance, you can probably catch a great soccer game at the stadium and see the spectacular shows the cheerleaders put on for there fans, but if not we have guided tours to take you behind the scenes and onto the field.

The stadium is oval shaped and is 317m long and 279m wide, with its height measuring 32m. The playing field is 110/75m. The name Maracana comes from the Tupi Guarani and means "like a rattle" , and this area of the city has many Chestnut fronted Macaws- (maracana-guacu) which cause a noisy ruckus hence the name. The official name is Mario Filho Stadium, named after a famous Brazilian journalist.

The torcidas, or soccer fans have adopted many aspects of Carnaval to futebol, playing lively music and dressing up in team colors with crazy noise makers, flags and colorful banners. This is by far the biggest sport in all of Brazil, and has produced many great players such as Pele, the greatest player of all time who was a World Cup Champion at 17, and scored a record breaking 1,283 goals in only 1,367 games. Ronaldo is also very famous with two World Cup Medals and in 2006 broke the competitions goal scoring record. Brazil also has the 1970 Dream Team, which is considered the best team of all time . There 4-1 victory over Italy gave them the World Cup title for the third time.

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