Football World Cup Highlights

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FOOTBALL WORLD CUP 2014, Brazil

• The 20th Football World Cup 2014 is to be held in Brazil from 12th June to 13th July.
• 30 January 2014 was the last date for the football fans to apply for tickets on www.FIFA.com/tickets. This site is the only source of guaranteed tickets that were being sold officially.
• If the number of requests for tickets exceeds the number of tickets available, a lottery will be held to determine the successful applicants.
• Prices differ for the International public and domestic public.
• The opening ceremony which is on June 12 in Sao Paolo, has ticket prices between $220 and $495. Whereas the cost of tickets for the finals on July 13 in Rio de Janeiro’s stadium – the Maracana Stadium, will be in the range of $440 to $990.
• Ticket requests for this Football World Cup have beaten all the records.
• A special riot force has been created by Brazil to help police control demonstrations expected during the World Cup later this year.
• Cameroon’s suspension from international soccer has been cancelled by FIFA, allowing the African country to play a key World Cup qualifier against Libya.
• Sony SIX has won the exclusive broadcast rights to all of FIFA’s international events for a period of five years in the Indian subcontinent.
• Russia has been chosen as the Host nation for 2018 Football World Cup where as Qatar will host 2022 Football World Cup.
• Updated list of teams participating in the 2014 Football World Cup is as follows- Algeria, Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Bosnia, Herzegovina, Brazil, Cameroon, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cote d’Ivoire, Croatia, Ecuador, England, France, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Honduras, Iran, Italy, Japan, Korea Republic, Mexico, Netherlands, Nigeria, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Switzerland, Uruguay and USA.
• The Castelao in Brazil is the first stadium among the venues of the World Cup, to be awarded for its eco-friendly building methods with rational use of water and energy.
• Premier League Referee, Howard Webb has been chosen to represent England’s Officials at the World Cup.
• Referees will be using a water-based spray that disappears a minute after use, to mark out free-kicks at the World Cup.
• Brazil’s musical star Claudia Leitte will be performing with the global superstars Pitbull and Jennifer Lopez on the official song of the 2014 Football World Cup entitled “We are one”.
• BBC will broadcast England’s opening match against Italy.
• The 32 participating teams will be spread across five regions in Brazil. The base camps were announced on February 1st, 2014.
• Mexico’s Carlos Vela has refused to play for the World Cup this year.
• 25 referee trios and 8 support duos have been appointed for the Football World Cup 2014. They will be representing 43 different countries in total.
• The Food and Beverage Programme arranged for the world cup is said to create 12000 job opportunities for people in Brazil.
• Special seats have been arranged for the fans with disabilities including obesity this year.
• 100,000 security personnel have been deployed for security concerns in Brazil to prevent violence that hit the country last year.
• Despite long delays in the renovation of the stadium and violent protests, Brazil has been confirmed to be the final venue of the world cup by the football federation.
• Football fans have their last chance to grab a ticket for the world cup 2014. There will be two phases for the sale of tickets- either order from the first-come, first-served phase which starts from March 12 to April1 or from the “last-minute” phase starting from April 15 to July 13.
• Football players will have to undergo a doping test before the commencement of the world cup. The qualified teams have been asked to submit their schedules of availability for the test.
• Columbian Striker Radamel Falcao, who was thought to be out of the world cup following his knee injury, has recovered and is most likely ready to play in the game.
• Seven top players including Juan Mata (Spain), Philippe Coutinho (Brazil), Lucas Leiva (Brazil), Erik Lamela (Argentina), Fabricio Coloccini (Argentina), Mesut Ozil (Germany) and Fernando Torres (Spain) could miss out on the world cup games this year.
• Electronic Arts has finally unveiled the trailer of the 2014 Football World Cup video game. It is the only official video-game of the greatest event of football. The game is available for Xbox 360 and PS3.
• As a gesture of gratitude towards the construction industry of Brazil, FIFA has allocated around 50,000 tickets to the workers involved in the construction or renovation of the world cup stadiums.
• The whole executive committee of the Uruguan Football Association has resigned after the National government decided to withdraw police protection at the matches. Following their resignation just two months before the world cup, FIFA might suspend the Uruguan team from the world cup.
• A demo of the 2014 Football World Cup has been launched on Xbox 360 and PS3.
• The official world cup anthem will be performed by Avicii, Carlos Santana, Wyclef John along with a local singer AlexandrePires. The song is called “Dar Um Jeito (We will find a way)”
• The Official Tracklist of the 2014 Football World Cup Album has been finally released by the FIFA and Sony Music Entertainment. The album contains 10 songs composed by a combination of Top International stars and Brazilian Artists.
• The World Cup Trophy, which was on a 267 day world tour, has finally returned to Brazil two months before the tournament begins.
• The ticketing centres for the World Cup have been opened in Brazil for those who had purchased the match tickets to claim them. The centres in 10 of the 12 host cities have been opened excluding Brasilia and Porto Alegre, where they will open up next month.
• 30000 Panini World Cup stickers have been stolen while being delivered to the newsagents. These stickers became popular with the school children after the 1970 Mexico World Cup.
• Brazil’s Ministry of Sports has come up with the Host Cities Guide to help the tourists to make the most of their stay in the country. The guide is available here: www.copa2014.gov.br/en/servicos.
• Lionel Messi has entered into a 16.3 million pound contract with Barcelona which makes him the highest paid player in the world.
• Following the rampant protests that are taking place in Brazil, a strong army of 20,000 officers have been deployed for the security issues in Rio.
• With just 15 days to go, Brazil is still trying to combat the protests all around. Chinese security systems have been installed for better provisions.
• A state of emergency has been declared in the world cup host city.
• The bus carrying the Brazil Team was attacked by the protestors while it arrived at the world cup camp.
• The Last–minute sale of the FIFA world cup tickets begins from June 4. About 180,000 have been made available, which will be alloted on first-cum-first-served basis. Tickets for all the 64 matches will be offered in this last phase of the sale of tickets.
• Colombian player, Radamel Falcao, who had incurred a severe knee injury, will not be playing in this World Cup.
• FIFA has been surmounted with great pressure after the controversy regarding the bribery claims against Qatar has come up in the air. Qatar, who had win the bid for hosting the 2022 FIFA world cup, has been blamed for buying votes. While the country has denied the reports completely, Australia and Japan have urged FIFA to rerun the whole process of biding.