Venues
Seventeen cities showed interest in being chosen as World Cup host cities: São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte, Porto Alegre, Brasília, Belém, Campo Grande, Cuiabá, Curitiba, Florianópolis, Fortaleza, Goiânia, Manaus, Natal, Recife/Olinda (a stadium will be shared by both cities), Rio Branco and Salvador. 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. The Brazilian Confederation requested permission to assign twelve cities hosting World Cup Finals. On 26 December 2008, FIFA gave the green light to the 12-city plan.
Even before the twelve host cities were selected, there are 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 the 14th 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. Despite the desire of the CBF to still have São Paulo as one of the 12 host cities, there are still no defined plans to have a proper venue in the city.
The twelve host cities for the 2014 World Cup were announced on 31 May 2009. Belém, Campo Grande, Florianópolis, Goiânia and Rio Branco were rejected.
