Maracanã Stadium (Rio de Janeiro)

 olympic venue, World Cup football stadium, football / soccer stadium, football premier league

The Maracana Stadium (Official name: Estadio Jornalista Mário Filho) is an open-air stadium in Rio de Janeiro. It was once the largest stadium in the world, seating just over 200,000 spectators. Owned by the Rio de Janeiro State Government, the stadium is named after the Maracana neighbourhood in Rio de Janeiro. It was constructed from 1948 to 1950 to host the final of the 1950 FIFA World Cup, where the paid attendance at that match was 199,500. Since the World Cup has mainly been used for club games involving four major football clubs in Rio: Vasco, Botafogo, Flamengo, and Fluminense. It has also hosted numerous domestic football cup finals, most notably the Copa de Brazil and the Campeonato Carioca. The stadium was given its official name in 1966 following Mario Filho's death. It hosted the final round matches of the Copa America in 1989 On July 15, 1992, an upper stand of the stadium collapsed, leading to the death of 3 supporters and 50 more being injured. Following the disaster, the stadium's capacity was greatly reduced as it was converted to an all-seater stadium in the late 1990s. the ground was classified as real estate in 1998, meaning that it could not be demolished. In 2000, the stadium hosted the first ever FIFA Club World Cup Final. Following the stadium's 50th Anniversary, its capacity was increased to 103,000. After years of planning and nine months of closure between 2005 and 2006, the stadium reopened in January 2007 with an all-seated capacity of 95,000. The stadium also served as the main stadium of the 2007 Pan American Games and will host the Final match of the FIFA World Cup in 2014.