Estádio do Maracanã
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The Estádio do Maracanã, "Maracanã stadium", (official name: Estádio Jornalista Mário Filho), 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.
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 1-0 up; 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 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.
Other stadium data
- First game: Rio de Janeiro All-Stars 1x3 São Paulo All-Stars (16 June, 1950)
- First goal scored by: Didi (Rio de Janeiro All-Stars)
Trivia
- The name Maracanã refers to a Brazilian kind of parrot which is found in the North of Brazil.
- The stadium was officially named Jornalista Mário Filho because of a journalist who supported the stadium's construction, called Mário Filho. He was the brother of another famous Brazilian journalist and writer, Nélson Rodrigues.
- Maracanã is the stadium in which Pelé scored his 1,000th goal, in the match Vasco da Gama 1-2 Santos. It was also the stadium where he made his debut with the Brazilian National Team, against Argentina, in 1957, and where he played his last game with the National Team, against Yugoslavia, in 1971. Till today, Pelé has scored more goals for Brazil at the Maracanã than any other player, his record standing at 30 goals in 22 games.
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