Everything about Est Dio Do Maracan totally explained
The
Estádio Jornalista Mário Filho, commonly called
Estádio do Maracanã ("Maracanã stadium"), is an open-air stadium in
Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil. It was once the largest stadium in the world, seating just over 200,000 spectators. Owned by the
Rio de Janeiro State Government, it's 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. 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.
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. 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 easily the largest stadium 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 "
Maracanaço" (or in
Spanish, "Maracanazo"). The official attendance of the game was 199,500, with the actual attendance estimated to be about 210,000.
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.
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. 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 couldn't 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 its all-seated capacity to 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".
Maracanã video tour *
(External Link
)
Non-footballing events
- In 1952, an exhibition basketball match took place, involving the Harlem Globetrotters.
- Pope John Paul II has also visited the stadium. To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the stadium, on January 26, 1981,
- Frank Sinatra played to a crowd of 100,000, prior to a friendly Brazil football match against The USSR.
- In 1983, a volleyball match between Brazil and the USSR played at the ground.
- On April 21, 1990, Paul McCartney played his "World Tour" concert in the Maracanã stadium to a record crowd of over 185 thousand people---his largest single crowd concert ever.
- In January 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 event lasted for nine nights, from January 18 to 27, with a day off on Monday, Jan. 21. Prince, Guns N' Roses and George Michael headlined two nights each, while the other main acts held top spot only once.
Kiss,
Sting,
Tina Turner,
Paul McCartney,
Madonna,
RBD,
Rush and the
Backstreet Boys all played the venue on concerts of their own. The 1995 edition of the
Hollywood Rock festival in
Rio consisted solely of two consecutive performances of the
Rolling Stones there.
On October 8, 2006 the famous Mexican pop band,
RBD performed in the stadium with a crowd of more than 70,000 fans, and recorder a live album called
Live in Rio.
Rush's concert is documented on the live album
Rush in Rio. Sting's was the very first from his
Nothing Like the Sun world tour, while Kiss, back in 1982, gifted the Maracanã audience with their last appearance wearing the trademark make-up they'd only sport again from the mid-90's on.
In
July 13, 2007, the stadium hosted the
opening ceremonies of the
XV Pan American Games. On
December 8, Maracanã was the site of the only Brazilian date of
The Police's 2007 world tour. The concert happened a little over 20 years after
Sting's solo performance at the stadium. Therefore, it gave him the distinction of being the only international popstar to play dates at Maracanã in distinct occasions.
View of Maracanã
View of Estádio do Maracanã 2008 *
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