Book your air tickets and holiday apartments for Brazil, FIFA World Cup 2014

Watch the entire world go into a grip of mass football fever as the 20th edition of the FIFA World Cup gets underway in Brazil in 2014. Football and Brazil are synonymous with each other and what better way to have this gala event celebrated in a country that eats and sleeps football throughout the year. To be held from 12 June to 13 July 2014 across 12 Brazilian cities, preparation are already in swing to ensure that that the 2014 FIFA World Cup turns out to be the best sporting event of all. And though the sale of 2014 Football World Cup match tickets are yet to begin, preparation for booking of hotel rooms and service apartment accommodation have already began. And if you don’t want to miss the action, we suggest that you too do the same and start making preparations for booking your air tickets and holiday apartments for Brazil while keeping a look out for the match tickets.

The 2014 FIFA World Cup is going to be a special event not just for Brasil but for South America as a whole. The 2014 FIFA World Cup will be coming back to South America after 36 long years and will be the second time that Brasil (Brazil) will be hosting the event. The last time the country hosted the event was in 1950’s when Brazil was the runners up and Uruguay the champions. So, one can very well imagine the excitement and the frenzy the country and its residents are into.

FIFA World Cup Countdown

Match Venues

12 Brazilian cities have been selected as host for the 2014 Football World Cup and arrangements are already been made to upgrade, rebuilt and construct new stadiums for the event. List of cities and stadiums where the matches will be held are given below and we hope this helps you out in making arrangements for your match tickets and accommodation in Brasil.

City	Stadium
Rio de Janeiro	Estádio Mário Filho ((Maracanã))
Brasília	Estádio Nacional de Brasília (Mané Garrincha)
São Paulo	Arena Corinthians
Fortaleza	Estádio Plácido Aderaldo Castelo ((Castelão))
Belo Horizonte	Estádio Governador Magalhães Pinto (Mineirão)
Porto Alegre	Estádio José Pinheiro Borda(Beira-Rio)
Salvador	Arena Professor Octávio Mangabeira (Arena Fonte Nova)
Recife	Arena Pernambuco
Cuiabá	Arena Pantanal
Manaus	Vivaldo Lima (Arena Amazônia)
Natal	João Cláudio de Vasconcelos Machado (Arena das Dunas)
Curitiba	Estádio Joaquim Américo Guimarães (Arena da Baixada)

Match Timings

While the opening match of the 2014 FIFA World Cup is all set to be held at Arena Corinthians, Sao Paulo on 12 June 2014, the finals will be held on 13 July 2014 at the historic Estádio Mário Filho (Maracanã) stadium of Rio de Janeiro. And while the kick off time for the opening event, semi finals and finals are set at 1700 hrs and1600 hrs local time, group matches and knockout stage matches will be played at 1300, 1500, 1600, 1700, 1800, 1900 and 2100 hrs local time. So make sure that you book your short let apartment near the match venue so that you can reach there before the stipulated time

Do note that the GMT times for these events are GMT-4 for matches being held at Cuiaba and Manaus and GMT-3 for others.

Introducing Fuleco

Just like all the previous football world cups, the 2014 FIFA World Cup too has its own mascot – a Brazilian three banded armadillo that goes by the name of Fuleco. Affectionately called tatu-bola, Fuleco is a portmanteau of the words "Futebol" ("Football") and "Ecologia" ("Ecology"). Seen as a cheerful and appealing personality that has already caught the imagination of most football enthusiasts, it is hoped that the mascot will also give strength to the conservation efforts that are being made to save the armadillo population in Latin America.

Many Firsts

Ever since Brazil won the rights to the 2014 FIFA World Cup, the event has seen many firsts taking place in the count down to the event. The first was increasing the number of host cities from eight/ten to twelve. This was followed by decision to introduce the Goal-line technology in all the world cup games and by naming the official match ball ‘Brazuca’- the first ever FIFA World Cup ball to be named by the fans. It is hoped that there will be a whole lot of first as the games get underway so hold your breath and be there to catch all the live action as it happens.

Teams Participating

Qualifying round for the 2014 FIFA Football World Cup are still underway and it will be a while before the final list of participating teams is declared. To know who all will be making to the final league , make sure to follow the qualifying games. To know the latest news and updates visit http://www.fifa.com/index.html

So, be a part of this soccer fervour and book your holiday rental now.