Historical Maracana to open on 2nd June 2013 after a complete refurbishment

The largest stadium of the world, Maracana is going to open on 2^nd June after renovation for the upcoming mega tournaments Confederation cup 2013 & World Cup 2014.

Brazil will take on England in a friendly on 2^nd June in the inaugural match after the refurbishment of the stadium.

By this demolition and reconstruction of the lower seats, the stadium’s capacity will be reduced by a large number of seats. In 1950, the stadium supported a huge capacity of 150,000 and after renovation, it will be able to accommodate 83,400 spectators. There would be few other changes according to FIFA’s guidelines. There would be several exit passages which will enable evacuation in this giant stadium within 8 minutes only, much less than the 40 minutes it took before.

The Rio de Janeiro Tourism, Sports and Leisure Department decided to paint the stadium back to its original colour, gray. They are trying to bring back its original look of 1950.

According to FIFA’s guidelines, it’s necessary to have larger parking spaces. That’s why stadium authority are constructing a huge space for parking by demolishing Julio Delamare and Celio de Barros sports complexes.

The original name of the Maracana stadium is Estadio Journalista Mario Filho and it’s situated in the heart of Rio-de-Janeiro, Brazil. It was founded in 1950 for hosting the World Cup in Brazil and had a capacity of more than 1,50,000 peoples. The official attendance of spectators during 1950 FIFA World Cup final between Brazil & Uruguay at Maracana is 1,99,854, which is the all time record in the history of any kind of football match.

Maracana is the colossus of modern architecture which has noticed so many historical moments in the history of world football. The stadium was renovated in 2006 once.

This historical stadium is the pride and glory of Brazil which has witnessed so many memorable matches. After second world war, the FIFA World Cup once again started its mega journey here in 1950 while it hosted the inaugural match of 1950.

There are some sad memories involved with this stadium also. As a host nation, Brazil lost in the Jules Rimet trophy final which is currently known as FIFA World Cup, against Uruguay by 1-2 margin in the deciding match of the four-team final group (this was the only tournament not decided by a one-match final).