FIFA World Cup 2014 Facts and Figures
Hopefully, everyone is enjoying FIFA world cup 2014 with full zeal and enthusiasm. Here are some FIFA world cup 2014 facts and figures about the games sure to get you in the spirit.
01- FIFA World Cup 2014 Host:
Brazil is hosting the 20th FIFA World Cup for the second time in their history. This time, 12 cities are chosen to host the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
02- FIFA World Cup 2014 Participants:
Overall 32 nations take part in a total of 64 matches: 48 group stage games and 15 further knock-out stage games. It will take precisely one month and one day for the entire World Cup to take place.
Hosts: Brazil
South America: Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, Chile and Uruguay
North/Central America and Caribbean: United States, Costa Rica, Honduras and Mexico
Asia: Japan, Iran and South Korea
Australia: Australia
Africa: Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Ghana and Algeria
Europe: Netherlands, Italy, Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, Russia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, England, Spain, Greece, Portugal, Croatia and France.
03- FIFA World Cup 2014 hosting Cities and Venues
12 different cities of Brazil are selected to host FIFA World cup 2014. These are Manaus, Fortaleza, Natal, Recife, Salvador, Cuiaba, Brasilia, Belo Horizonte, Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paolo, Curitiba and Porto Alegre.
The stadia themselves are an array of the new and old, refurbished and redesigned, the inner-town and the close-to-coast. The venues are:
Estadio Mineirao, , Estadio Nacional de Brasilia, Arena Pantanal,Arena da Baixada, Estadio Castelao, Arena Amazonia, Estadio das Dunas,Estadio Beira-Rio, Arena Pernambuco, Estadio Do Maracana, Arena Fonte Nova, Arena de Sao Paolo,.
The smallest, by capacity, is Arena da Baixada, which holds around 28,000, while the Maracana will seat up to 89,000.
04- FIFA World Cup 2014 Former Champions.
Spain is current champions and they play to defend the title. There are eight previous winners of the FIFA World Cup set to take part in Brazil 2014. Brazil have won the World Cup a record five times, the last of which came in 2002. Italy (four wins), Germany (three), Uruguay, Argentina (twice each), England, France and Spain (once each).
05-FIFA World Cup 2014 Debutant
Bosnia and Herzegovina are the two teams who will make their first ever appearance in the 2014 FIFA World Cup. Bosnian-Herzegovinian players were part of the Yugoslavia national football team until 1992. The breakup of Yugoslavia resulted in the formation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which is considered distinct entity from the Yugoslavia team, which appeared eight times at the FIFA World Cup between 1930 and 1990.
06-Total Audience Gross Capacity
FIFA announced that the total Gross Capacity for the 2014 World Cup is estimated at 3,720,225 fans. Tickets were sold through a random selection draw for the first two phases, and the last minute sales phase was first come, first served.
07-FIFA World Cup 2014 Official Logo
The FIFA World Cup 2014 Logo has been named “Inspiration”. The design stems from an iconic photograph of three victorious hands together raising the world’s most famous trophy. As well as depicting the humanitarian notion of hands interlinking, the portrayal of the hands is also symbolic of the yellow and green of Brazil warmly welcoming the world to their country. Victory and union are the two elements which are vividly depicted through the hands featured in the design.
08-FIFA World Cup 2014 Official Mascot
The 2014 FIFA World Cup mascot is named “Fuleco,” as voted for by the Brazilian public. He is an armadillo who can curl up into a (foot) ball and, according to him; he will be 14 years old at the time of the World Cup. He is a Brazilian three-banded Armadillo, apparently. The blue shell represents Brazil’s fertility and landscape, the skies and the water.
09-FIFA World Cup 2014 Official Ball
The official ball to be used at the 2014 World Cup is the Adidas Brazuca. Like the mascot, the ball was named by public vote and will only feature for the finals.
10-FIFA World Cup 2014 The Official Ambassadors
The official ambassadors for the 2014 FIFA World Cup are, unsurprisingly, all Brazilian. Selected earlier this year in January, the World Cup-winning group includes Carlos Alberto, Amarildo, Bebeto and Ronaldo from the men’s team, the legendary Marta from the women’s team and Mario Zagallo, who won the World Cup both as a player and a manager with his nation.
11-FIFA World Cup 2014 Official Slogan
“All in one rhythm”—that’s the message and the slogan you can expect to see everywhere in Brazil during the tournament. The slogan in Portuguese is “Juntos num so ritmo.”
12-FIFA World Cup 2014 Official Partners & Sponsors.
Official partner are Adidas, Coca Cola, Hyundai, Emirates, Sony and Visa. Budweiser are a major World Cup sponsor with FIFA, along with the likes of McDonald’s, Castrol, Johnson and Johnson, Continental, Oi, Yingu and Moy Park. There are many other general partners associated with FIFA aside from the official World Cup sponsors.
13-FIFA World Cup 2014 Official Song
We Are One (Ole Ola)” is selected as official song for FIFA world cup 2014. The song recorded by American rapper Pitbull for One Love, One Rhythm – The 2014 FIFA World Cup Official Album (2014). It features guest vocals from American entertainer Jennifer Lopez and Brazilian singer Claudia Leitte. The song was written by Pitbull, Thomas Troelsen, Lopez, Leitte, Daniel Murcia, Sia Furler, Lukasz “Dr. Luke” Gottwald, Henry “Cirkut” Walter and Nadir Khayat, while production was handled by Gottwald, Walter, and Troelsen.
14-FIFA World Cup 2014 Official Web site:
www.fifa.com is the official web site for FIFA world cup 2014.
