The 2014 World Cup

Championship Soccer in Rio de Janeiro

The FIFA 2014 World Cup will be held in Brazil, beginning on Thursday June 12th in São Paulo and ending on Sunday July 13th in Rio de Janeiro. 7 games, including the final match, will be played in Rio in the world famous Maracanã Stadium.

The 12 host cities for the 2014 World Cup that were chosen, include Belo Horizonte, Brasília, Cuiabá, Curitiba, Fortaleza, Manaus, Natal, Porto Alegre, Recife, Rio de Janeiro, Salvador, and São Paulo. The quarter final matches will be played on July 8th and 9th in Belo Horizonte and São Paulo, both cities that within in short flying time of Rio. The semifinal match will take place on July 12th in Brazil's capital Brasilia.

The highlight of the 2014 World cup will of course be the final match held on Sunday July 13th at 14:00 GMT in Rio de Janeiro.

Brazil has won the World Cup championship a record 5 times, most recently in 2002. Brasil hosted the World Cup in 1950, with the Brazilian team being led by arguably the world's best soccer player Pele, only to lose in the final match against Uruguay before a crowd of 174,000 fans in Maracanã Stadium.

Renovations of Maracanã stadium are planned to be completed in early 2013. A new roof has been constructed with a state of the art rainwater collection system. The lower ring of seats has been removed and replaced with a higher level of new seating which will provide better viewing of the field.

The famous facade of the stadium will remain in tact. These significant infrastructure and fan viewing upgrades will reduce the number of spectator seats to about 77,000 for both the 2014 World Cup and the Rio 2016 Summer Olympic games.

Match Schedules for Rio de Janeiro

Group Matches

Game #11, Sunday June 15th, 19:00 GMT, F1 vs F2
Game #19, Wednesday June 18th, 19:00 GMT, B1 vs B3
Game #31, Sunday June 22nd, 19:00 GMT, H1 vs H3
Game #42, Wednesday June 25th, 17:00 GMT, E2 vs E3

Game #50, Saturday June 28th, 17:00 GMT, 1C vs 2D

Quarter Final Match

Game #58, Friday July 4th, 13:00 GMT, Winner of game #53 vs Winner of game #54

Final Match

Game #64, Sunday July 13th, 14:00 GMT, winner of game #61 vs winner of game #62

View or upload the entire 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil™ match schedule in PDF format here.

Visit our World Cup News page to get the latest updates on the progress in the qualifying matches and tournaments.

Accommodations

Decent lodging will become a scarce commodity during the 30 days of World Cup 2014 in Rio de Janeiro. The large luxury and business class hotels that are being built for the Rio 2016 Summer Olympics by the Hilton chain, billionaire Elke Batista, and others, may not be ready in time for the World Cup. Rio de Janeiro has a lot of existing hotel space which is expected to be at maximum occupancy levels.

Many fans will be renting apartments instead, as it's a less expensive alternative for couples and groups of people traveling together.

Don't expect to find any real bargains for rental apartments, as diehard football fans will be booking the best available lodging for the entire 30 days. It's been reported that some larger luxury apartments on Ipanema Beach, will rent for as much USD $500,000 for the month!

As of February 2013, most hotels and holiday rental apartment owners have yet to commit on pricing and reservations. No one really has an idea yet on how high to set rates for apartments, hotels, or hostels. The weekly lodging rates will certainly be as high, if not higher, than the Carnival and New Years Eve weeks.Some rental apartment property managers, such as RioUpscale.com may set up on-line "auction sites" to allow competitive bidding by prospective guests. Check back with us periodically for updated lodging information.

Watch the Brasilian Seleção (national team) score 4 goals against Bolivia in a Friendly on April 6th, 2013. Leandro Damião scores first, followed by two from Neymar, and the 4th by Leandro again. Brazil wins 4-0.