FIFA World Cup in Curitiba
In 1950, Brazil was the host of an atypical World Cup. Only 13 teams competed on that occasion. The normal number of teams competing in the World Cup at that time was 16. The reason for the fewer teams was the aftereffects of World War II. Previously, in 1942 and 1946, both World Cup competitions had been canceled because of the destruction of the European continent. In 1950, five national teams withdrew from participating: Turkey, Scotland, Portugal, France and India. Interestingly, India withdrew because FIFA wouldn’t let them play barefoot.
Even with all the difficulties, FIFA was determined in resurrect the event. However, many governments around the world weren’t prepared to spend the money necessary to re-start their sports programs, as economies were still suffering from the efforts to rebuild. The world didn’t seem to be in the mood for a sports celebration, but Brazil stepped forward and made a proposal to host the 1950 World Cup. FIFA accepted immediately.
Six Brazilian cities hosted the 4th World Cup: Belo Horizonte, Curitiba, Porto Alegre, Recife, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. Curitiba hosted just two games: Spain 3 x 1 USA and Sweden 2 x 2 Paraguay. The stadium for both games was the Durival de Britto e Silva, also known as Vila Capanema. This stadium opened in 1947 and was the third largest in terms of capacity (10,000) at the time. Nowadays, the stadium is owned by Paraná Clube which is in the 2nd division of Brazilian football and has a capacity of approximately 20,000 fans.
The average attendance of the 1950 World Cup was nearly of 61,000 per game, which set a record that would not be broken until 1994 (in the USA-hosted World Cup). Excluding the eight matches played in Marcanã Stadium (Rio de Janeiro) the average attendance was 37,000.
Unfortunately, as all Brazilians know, Brazil lost the World Cup in an episode known as “Maracanaço” when Uruguay defeated Brazil 2 x 1 in the final game. The defeat was very painful to the Brazilian people.
In 2014, Brazil will have its second opportunity to host the World Cup. There will be 12 host cities, including Curitiba. However, the venues are not 100 percent guaranteed yet. In Curitiba, City Hall and Paraná’s government have made a strong effort to reach an agreement with the owner of the likey venue “Arena da Baixada”, Atlético’s stadium, in order to upgrade the stadium and the area around the location to make it usable for the 2014 World Cup games. Atlético is in the 1st division of Brazilian football at this time.
A lot of investment in infrastructure is expected during the coming years to prepare for the World Cup. Of course, we all hope the enormous efforts required to bring the next World Cup to Brazil bring a strong victory for Brazil, not just as a great football team, but as a great country, too.
