No visit to Rio would be complete without a pilgrimage to the “stadium of stadiums” – the legendary home of Brazilian Footbol commonly referred to as Maracanã.
Built for the 1950 World Cup,
Maracanã, officially called Estádio Mário Filho, was built to serve as the flagship venue. It was meant to become the biggest football stadium in the world with 179,000 capacity.It is estimated that 200,000 watched the 1950 Final in the stands.
Complete renovation for the 2014 World Cup saw the installation of seats and a reduction to 79,000 capacity. Despite the reduced capacity, Brazil was favored to play the final here. Alas, a humiliating 7 to 1 defeat against Germany in the semifinals, Brazil’s Maracana curse continued.
The stadium witnessed the Argentina – Germany game that ended 0-1 in the European‘ favor.
Planet Travel Blog 
Great picture of you at the Maracanã. And, per usual, thanks for providing a history, albeit sad, about the stadium.
Hugs,
Julie
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