São Paulo to Host 2014 World Cup Opener
The new 65,000-seat stadium in São Paulo, Brazil will host the opening match and ceremony of the 2014 World Cup, FIFA announced on Thursday.
The final will be staged in Rio de Janeiro at the infamous Estádio do Maracanã.
FIFA also announced that teams will have to travel across the country during the tournament. Teams were also required to travel cross-country during the 2010 World Cup in South Africa so this is nothing new.
According to the Associated Press, FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke said, “You can have the best teams, the seeded teams, in all the host cities.”
Due to the amount of antcipated travel, Brazil’s airports will surely be under a lot of pressure. As a result, the country’s airports are rapidly undergoing major renovations.
Will the airports be ready in time for the 2013 Confederations Cup? More importantly, will they be ready for the 2014 World Cup opening ceremony? We shall see.
Kick-off Times
The earliest games will kick-off at 1:00 pm local time, while night games will kick-off as late as 10pm. However, no matches will start later than 5:00 pm during the knockout stages.
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