About Maracanã
The Maracanã, officially named Estádio Jornalista Mário Filho, is a football stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The stadium is part of a complex that includes an arena known as the Maracanãzinho. Owned by the Rio de Janeiro state government, it is usually operated by the clubs Flamengo and Fluminense.
Opened in 1950 to host the FIFA World Cup, in which Brazil was beaten 2–1 by Uruguay in the deciding game (the "Maracanazo"), before a world record attendance of 199,854. It was renovated for the 2014 FIFA World Cup and the 2016 Summer Olympics. The current capacity is 78,838, making it the largest stadium in Brazil.
The stadium is considered "Temple of Football" in Brazil. The sheer scale of the bowl layout provides impressive views. It has hosted two World Cup finals (1950 and 2014). The atmosphere during the "Fla-Flu" derby is one of the most intense and colorful in world football.
The ground is legally owned by the state government of Rio de Janeiro through the Superintendência de Desportos do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (SUDERJ), and operational control was privatised through a 20-year concession awarded in April 2013 to a consortium led by Odebrecht (2016 operations passed to WTorre and later to a Flamengo-Fluminense joint venture from October 2019). Original construction between August 1948 and June 1950 was carried out by a workforce of 10,000 labourers under a wartime-style crash programme managed by chief engineer Waldir Ramos and lead architect Miguel Feldman for a delivered cost of 165 million cruzeiros of the day. The comprehensive 2013 rebuild for the FIFA Confederations Cup and 2014 World Cup was executed by Odebrecht-Andrade Gutierrez-Delta joint venture at a contract value of 1.05 billion Brazilian reais with a build programme of 27 months.