In Rio de Janeiro, football is breathed everywhere, and its lung is in the temple of the world football: the Maracana. The city hosts four of the most traditional Brazilian teams: Botafogo, Fluminense, Vasco Da Gama and Flamengo.
The 'Cidade Maravilhosa' (Marvelous City) takes on this sunday its first matchgame of CONMEBOL Copa America Brazil 2019. Paraguay and Qatar national teams Will give and spectacle in the football temple.
Inaugurated for the 1950 World Cup, the Jornalista Mário Filho stadium has hosted the World Cup finals of 1950 and 2014, the men's football final of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games and Pelé's thousandth goal.
It was in the Maracaná where Brazil lost 1-2 at the hands of Uruguay in the great final of the 1950 World Cup. The famous ‘Maracanazo', that July 16 of that year, will always be remembered as one of the worst defeats Brazilians in the history of football.
Currently, with a capacity for more than 75 thousand spectators, which make this stadium as the biggest in Brazil, will host the grand final of the CONMEBOL Copa América Brazil 2019 on July 7.
In the streets of Rio de Janeiro, in the parks and their extensive beaches, everyone plays football. Soccer culture is present throughout the city, which has given the world players of the likes of Jairzinho, Zico, Ronaldo and Romario, to name just a few.
The Marvelous City hosts four of the most important clubs in Brazil: Botafogo, Fluminense, Vasco da Gama and Flamengo; the latter with the biggest fans in the whole country: more than 30 million followers.
In addition, the Maracaná, three other stadiums you can find in the city are: the São Januário de Vasco da Gama, the Luso-Brasileiro Stadium, also known as Ilha do Urubu Stadium, managed since 2017 by Flamengo and the Olympic Nilton Santos, Botafogo, which was one of the venues of the 2007 Pan American Games and the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
