Brazil’s fertile ground blooms but too slowly in some areas

Brazil’s World Cup stadiums are expensive, over budget, late and viewed as an unwanted excess by many compatriots. Many of the cities have no use for a 50,000-seat stadium when their resident clubs attract crowds of four figures.

Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, has opened to rave reviews from fans and competitors, but many in Brazil still see the World Cup akin to just pouring money into a hole. Yasuyoshi Chiba / AFP

Rio businessman Pedro Wilson Silveira had never been so proud to be Brazilian. In June 2013, he was in a redeveloped Maracana Stadium for the Confederations Cup final between Brazil and Spain.

“There was an energy in the air that I’ve never felt in my life before,” he said. “People were so proud to be Brazilian and the national anthem was sung with such passion. I’d never seen anything like it.

“The Spain team looked afraid. I looked around the Maracana and thought, ‘This is beautiful’.

“It’s going to be even better for the World Cup finals.”

Silveira knows that Brazil’s World Cup stadiums are expensive, over budget, late and viewed as an unwanted excess by many compatriots. He knows that many of the cities have no use for a 50,000-seat stadium when their resident clubs attract crowds of four figures.

Attendances in football cities such as Belo Horizonte and Rio have improved thanks to the new stadiums, but at Manaus and Brasilia, they do not even boast a first-division team.

There was serious concern that four of the six venues would not even be ready for the Confederations Cup, a dry run for this year’s finals, last year.

But, as is often the case with major sporting events, they were.

“Some stadiums are late but they’ll be finished and the ones I’ve played in are beautiful,” says Uruguay striker Diego Forlan, who lived in Brazil for two years until last week. He also played in the Confederations Cup. “It was great. The people love football and Brazil have an exceptional team under Luiz Felipe Scolari.”

Others still await completion.

Porto Alegre was supposed to stage a grand opening last week, but it has been delayed.

Across the city, Gremio opened their own 60,000 arena a year ago, but it will not be used in the competition.

Porto Alegre’s opening is imminent, but other stadiums are far from finished. On a visit to Curitiba two weeks ago, Fifa described the stadium where world champions Spain will play as “critically behind schedule”.

What choice does Curitiba, often said to be the most European, and one of the wealthiest Brazilian cities, have? Get it done or forever be known around the world as the city that was not ready and has its games taken away.

Work is continuing around the clock, but Fifa this week said a decision will be made to drop Curitiba on February 18.

Their carrot-and-stick approach is likely to be successful in pressuring the city, but Brazil promised to have all stadiums built by the end of 2013.

Five remain under construction.

“It’s embarrassing because we’ve known that we were staging the Word Cup for seven years,” says Curitiba resident Fernando da Silva, “but we have so little faith in the government to get things done. There has been poor management and cost overruns.”

Da Silva is talking outside Rio’s Maracana. He is in the city for the weekend, and being a football fan, wanted to visit the redeveloped stadium for a game involving one of its resident teams, Flamengo. He is impressed by one of the world’s most iconic venues.

The Maracana’s transformation was completed in plentiful time. The original 1950 shell was retained and its capacity was cut to 78,000. All have ample legroom and an excellent view of the pitch, with 95 per cent of the seats covered.

It is a magnificent arena. Public transport to the stadium from the beach areas, where travelling fans are likely to stay, works, too. Rio’s two metro lines do not serve the city of six million well, but they serve the Maracana capably.

The architecture at other stadiums is dazzling, but the limited infrastructure around them can be depressing. Tickets sales are oversubscribed and breaking records, while millions embrace the idea of the finals, including thousands of volunteers.

One, Juliana Vielitz, a retired physical-education teacher, has volunteered to help in her home city of Porto Alegre.

“I’d like to work with the players or with the kids when they walk onto the pitch,” she said. “I think the competition will be a success, I’m optimistic and proud that the world will be watching my country.”

She must return to her training.

“It’s done online in the early stage,” she said. “We have to learn the names of all the stadiums, all about the host cities, their history. I’m learning all about my country every day.”

The world is ready to learn, too, but Brazil needs to ensure that its football “classrooms” are open for business.

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