By Mark Baber
April 29 – Rio de Janeiro’s iconic Maracanã stadium, which will be the venue for next year’s World Cup final, has reopened with an exhibition match between teams led by former Brazil strikers Ronaldo and Bebeto.
Although the stadium is not fully finished, the event was held in front of a crowd of 8,000 construction workers, each of whom had been given three tickets to the match, and was heralded as a success.
The Maracanã is now the fourth of the 12 World Cup stadiums to be opened. The area around the stadium is still described as a building site, as renovation works continue on the $440m project ahead of an international friendly between Brazil and England on 2 June. The stadium will also be used for the Confederations Cup match between Italy and Mexico, June 16.
The event was attended by Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, Governor of Rio de Janeiro state, Sergio Cabral and the Mayor of Rio Eduardo Paes. FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter, sent a congratulatory message saying, “The reopening of the Maracana marks a very special moment for a stadium with so much history and such an aura. It’s every fan’s dream to watch a game in this footballing temple at least once in their lifetime.”
The owners of the project are Empresa de Obras Públicas (EMOP) and the Secretary of Works. The stadium has undergone a full renovation, but keeping the same elliptical shape, the original blue facade and the rear space of the stadium, but reducing the capacity from 87,000 to 79,000 and improving visibility, accessibility, safety and hospitality.
The roof now covers the whole of the seated area and the upgrade should allow full evacuation of the stadium within 8 minutes. The renovation includes extensive operational support services, 3,000 seats for the media and 88 private boxes, each measuring 50m² and with the capacity to accommodate up to 30 people.
The roof is fitted with 1,500 photovoltaic solar modules to produce solar energy.
The renovation has been funded by the National Bank for Economic Development (BNDES) and the State Government of Rio de Janeiro with BNDES providing 75% of the cost.
The reconstruction contract was awarded to the Maracanã Rio 2014 Consortium which originally included Odebrecht Infraestrutura, Delta Construção and Andrade Gutierrez before Delta pulled out following corruption allegations in April 2012. Otis was contracted to supply 21 elevators and escalators.
The Maracana was first opened in 1950, although the works were not completed until 1965. It famously had a paid attendance of 199,854 for the 1950 World Cup final with an estimated total audience of 210,000, making it the largest stadium by capacity in the world, ahead of Ibrox.
After the World Cup the stadium will close to make way for yet another reconstruction for the 2016 Olympics.
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