FIFA World Cup 2014 Overview

The 2014 FIFA World Cup will be the 20th FIFA World Cup, an international football tournament that is scheduled to take place in Brazil from 12 June to 13 July 2014.^[2] This is the second time Brazil has hosted the competition. Brazil will become the fifth country to have hosted the FIFA World Cup twice, after Mexico, Italy, France and Germany.

It is scheduled to be the first World Cup to be held in South America since the 1978 FIFA World Cup in Argentina, the first time two consecutive World Cups are staged outside Europe and the first time two consecutive World Cups are staged in the Southern Hemisphere (the 2010 FIFA World Cup was held in South Africa). It will also be the first FIFA World Cup to use goal-line technology.^[3] Spain is the defending champion having won FIFA World Cup 2010 defeating the Netherlands in the final.

The sale of tickets for the World Cup will start on 20 August 2013. An estimated 3.3 million tickets will be available and a majority of tickets will be sold through FIFA.com.

Qualification

  Qualified

  May qualify

  Failed to qualify – games to play

  Failed to qualify – games over

  Did not enter – FIFA member

  Did not enter – not a FIFA member before tournament

The allocation of places for the final tournament was decided on 3 March 2011, with the distribution of the 31 places determined through the qualification process unchanged from that for the 2010 World Cup.^[9] The qualification draw for the 2014 FIFA World Cup was held at the Marina da Glória in Rio de Janeiro on 30 July 2011.^[10][11] As the host nation,Brazil automatically qualifies for the tournament.

• AFC: (43 teams competing for 4 or 5 berths, playoff to determine exact number)

4 certain berths with 5th to play CONMEBOL's 5th place team in a home-and-away series to determine who will qualify.

• CAF: (52 teams competing for 5 berths)
• CONCACAF: (35 teams competing for 3 or 4 berths, with playoff to determine exact number)

3 certain berths with 4th to play OFC's winner in a home and away series to determine who will qualify for the finals.

• CONMEBOL: (9 teams competing for 4 or 5 berths, playoff to determine exact number)

4 certain berths with 5th to play AFC's 5th place team in a home-and-away series to determine who will qualify. In addition, Brazil automatically qualifies for the finals as host.

• OFC: (11 teams competing for 0 or 1 berth, playoff to determine exact number)

Winner plays CONCACAF's 4th place team in a home and away series.

• UEFA: (53 teams competing for 13 berths)











Venues

seventeen cities showed interest in being chosen as World Cup host cities: Belém, Belo Horizonte, Brasília, Campo Grande, Cuiabá, Curitiba,Florianópolis, Fortaleza, Goiânia, Manaus, Natal, Porto Alegre, Recife, Olinda (a stadium would be shared by both cities), Rio Branco, Rio de Janeiro,Salvador and São Paulo.^[12] Maceió withdrew in January 2009.
According to current FIFA practice, no more than one city may use two stadiums, and the number of host cities is limited between eight and ten. TheBrazilian Football Confederation (CBF) requested permission to assign 12 cities hosting World Cup Finals.^[13] On 26 December 2008, FIFA gave the green light to the 12-city plan.^[14]
Even before the 12 host cities were selected, there were few doubts that the chosen venue for the final match will be the Maracanã in Rio de Janeiro, which also hosted the decisive match of the 1950 FIFA World Cup. Originally the CBF's intentions were to have the opening match at Estádio do Morumbi in São Paulo, the largest city in Brazil. However, on 14 June 2010 the stadium was excluded from hosting games in the tournament due to a failure to provide financial guarantees for the improvements needed to have it as an eligible venue.^[15] At the end of August 2010, the CBF announced that the Arena Corinthians would host the matches in São Paulo.
The 12 host cities for the 2014 World Cup were announced on 31 May 2009.^[16] Belém, Campo Grande, Florianópolis, Goiânia and Rio Branco were rejected. Half of the chosen host cities will have their games in brand new venues built specifically for the World Cup, while the stadium for the capital Brasilia was demolished and will be rebuilt, and the remaining five are upgrading their current stadia.




Wait & See. . . !