The Estadio do Maracana
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The Estádio do Maracanã, "Maracanã stadium", (official name: Estádio Jornalista Mário Filho) (22°54′43.68″S, 43°13′48.54″W), in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, is one of the largest football stadiums in the world. Maracanã is the name of its neighborhood in Rio de Janeiro. It is home to three of the four biggest football clubs in Rio: Flamengo, Botafogo and Fluminense. |
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The stadium, built for the 1950 FIFA World Cup, originally had a capacity of 200,000. However, its capacity was greatly reduced when it was converted to an all-seater in the 1990s; it can currently hold around 77,720 seated and 103,022 with standing room. It is now undergoing renovations that will increase its all-seated capacity to around 100,000.
The 1950 deciding match between Brazil and Uruguay was hosted at the Maracanã stadium. Brazil only needed a draw to win, but lost the match 2-1 after being up 1-0 ; this match has since been known as the "Maracanaço" (or in Spanish, "Maracanazo").
On January 22, 2006, after nine months closed for reformation, the stadium was reopened. In the inaugural match, Botafogo beat Vasco da Gama 5-3.
The Campeonato Carioca finals usually are played at Maracanã stadium. Also, the stadium hosted the 1950 World Cup Final between Brazil and Uruguay, the 1951 Copa Rio final between Palmeiras (Brazil) and Juventus (Italy) and the 2000 FIFA Club World Championship final between Vasco da Gama and Corinthians.
It is particularly famous for holding the fabled Fla-Flu, the classic showdown between Flamengo and Fluminense, widely regarded as one of the most spectacular sporting events in the world.
Former Flamengo midfielder Zico is the stadium top scorer: 333 goals in 435 matches.
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