The Estádio do Maracanã is an open-air stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Owned by the Rio de Janeiro State Government, it is, as the Maracanã neighborhood where it is located, named after the Rio Maracanã, a now canalized river in Rio de Janeiro. It was opened in 1950 to host the FIFA World Cup, and in the final game Brazil was beaten 2--1 by Uruguay. Since then, it has mainly been used for football matches between the major football clubs in Rio de Janeiro, including Botafogo, Flamengo, Fluminense, and Vasco da Gama. It has also hosted a number of concerts and other sporting events. Although the paid attendance at the final game of the 1950 FIFA World Cup was 199,854 (being the world's largest stadium by capacity, when it was inaugurated), the stadium currently seats 78,838 spectators, making it the largest stadium in Brazil and South America. It was the main venue of the 2007 Pan American Games, hosting the football tournament and the opening and closing ceremonies. The Maracanã was partially rebuilt in preparation for the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup, the 2014 World Cup which will be the first one held in Brazil since 1950, and also the 2016 Summer Olympics, and the 2016 Summer Paralympics. The stadium held a test game on April 27, 2013 with teams led by Ronaldo and Bebeto. The first official match was on June 2, 2013, where Brazil drew 2-2 with England in a friendly match. After winning the right to host the 1950 FIFA World Cup, the Brazilian government sought to build a new stadium for the tournament. The plans for the stadium were drawn up by seven Brazilian architects, Miguel Feldman, Waldir Ramos, Raphael Galvão, Oscar Valdetaro, Orlando Azevedo, Antônio Dias Carneiro and Pedro Paulo Bernardes Bastos. The first stone was laid at the site of the stadium on August 2, 1948. With the first World Cup game scheduled to be played on June 24, 1950, this left a little under two years to finish construction. However, work quickly fell behind schedule, prompting FIFA to send Dr. Ottorino Barassi, the head of the Italian FA, who had organized the 1934 World Cup to help in Rio de Janeiro. The construction of Maracanã was criticized by Carlos Lacerda, then Congressman and political enemy of the mayor of the city, general Ângelo Mendes de Morais, for the expense and for the chosen location for the stadium, arguing that it should be built in the West Zone neighborhood of Jacarepaguá. Still it was supported by journalist Mário Rodrigues Filho, Mendes de Morais was able to move the project forward. At the time, a horse racing arena stood in the chosen area. The competition for the work was opened by municipality of Rio de Janeiro in 1947, with the construction contract awarded by engineer Humberto Menescal, and architectural contract awarded by Michael Feldman, Waldir Ramos, Raphael Galvão, Oscar Valdetaro, Orlando Azevedo, Pedro Paulo Bernardes Bastos, and Antônio Dias Carneiro. The works initiated on August 2, 1948, with the laying of the cornerstone. 1,500 workers constructed the stadium, with an additional two thousand working in the final months. Despite having come into use in 1950, the works were only completed in 1965. For the 2014 World Cup, a major reconstruction project was accomplished. The original seating bowl, with a two-tier configuration, was demolished, giving way to a new one-tier seating bowl. The new seats are colored yellow, blue and white forming along with the green of the match field, the Brazilian national colors. In addition, the grayish tone returns as the main façade color of the stadium. The original stadium's roof in concrete was demolished and substituted with a fiberglass tensioned membrane coated with Teflon. The new roof will cover 95% of the seats inside the stadium, unlike the former design, where protection was given to some seats in the upper ring and also from the seats of the bleachers above the gate access of each sector. The old boxes level, which were installed above the stands for the 2000 FIFA Club World Cup, were dismantled in the reconstruction process. On May 30, 2013, a friendly between gameBrazil and England scheduled for June 2 was called off by the local justice due to safety concerns related to the stadium. The government of Rio de Janeiro appealed against the decision with the game going ahead as originally planned, the final score being a 2−2 draw.
