FIFA World Cup 2014 – Everything you need to know

The FIFA World Cup 2014 will be the 20th FIFA World Cup, an international football tournament that is scheduled to take place in Brazil from 12 June to 13 July 2014. This is the second time that Brazil will host the competition. Only Mexico, Italy, France and Germany have hosted the World cup twice before.

It is scheduled to be the first World Cup to be held in South America since the 1978 FIFA World Cup in Argentina. It will also be the first FIFA World Cup to use goal-line technology.

The sale of tickets for the World Cup started on 20 August 2013. An estimated 3.3 million tickets will be available and the majority of tickets will be sold through FIFA.com.

Host Country

Brazil is the host country of the FIFA World Cup 2014. With a surface area of 8,547,404 km², Brazil is the largest country in both South America and the Latin American region. It is also the world’s fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population. The official language of Brazil is Portuguese.

History

Brazil is a modern country with a lot of history associated with it. Brazil’s history dates back to as early as 1500. From the 16th to the 19th centuries, Brazil was a colony of Portugal. On September 7, 1822, the country declared its independence from Portugal and became a republic. Presently, Brazil is a democratic country with Dilma Rousseff as its current president.
National emblems

National bird	Rufous-bellied Thrush
National flower	Ipê-amarelo
National tree	Pau-Brasil

Tourism

Brazil is an excellent tourist destination and is one of the most visited countries in Latin America. Among the most popular destinations are the Amazon Rainforest, Iguazu waterfalls, beaches at Rio de Janeiro and Santa Catarina, Christ the Redeemer and business trips to São Paulo city, just to name a few. 

Brazil was ranked in the 52nd place at the world’s level in terms of the 2011 Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index (TTCI).
Football in Brazil

Football occupies a very special place in the hearts of the people of Brazil. Although other sports like volleyball, basketball, tennis are also quite popular in Brazil, but football is the most popular sport among all. Brazilian football boasts of players like Leonidas, Garrincha, Didi, Vava, Zagallo, Tostão, Zico, Jairzinho, Carlos Alberto, Socrates, Bebeto, Romario, Cafu, Ronaldo and Roberto Carlos, just to name a few.
Brazil is the most successful national football team in the history of the FIFA World Cup, winning the tournament in 1958, 1962, 1970, 1994 and 2002. They are also the most successful team in the FIFA Confederations Cup with four titles, in 1997, 2005, 2009, and 2013. Brazil is the only national team to have played in every World Cup.
Brazilian football continues to produce exceptional new talents, and these days it is superstars Ronaldinho, Kaka and Neymar who are thrilling the football world with their skills.
Brazil won the right to host the FIFA World Cup 2014 on 30 October 2007 as the only country to enter the bidding process
FIFA World Cup 2014
Qualified Teams
A total of 32 teams have qualified for the World Cup. Brazil, being the host country had gained automatic selection as per FIFA’s policy. The other 31 teams to qualify are

Asia

     Australia (57)
     Iran (49)
     Japan (44)
     South Korea (56)

      Africa

     Algeria (32)
     Cameroon (59)
     Ghana (23)
     Ivory Coast (17)
     Nigeria (33)

    N. America

     Costa Rica (31)
     Honduras (34)
     Mexico (24)
     United States (13)

    S. America

     Argentina (3)
     Chile (12)
     Colombia (4)
     Ecuador (22)
     Uruguay (6)

     Europe

     Belgium (5)
     Bosnia and Herzegovina (16)
     Croatia (18)
     England (10)
     France (21)
     Germany (2)
     Greece (15)
     Italy (9)
     Netherlands (8)
     Portugal (14)
     Russia (19)
     Spain (1)
      Switzerland (7)
Venues
Seventeen cities showed interest in being chosen as World Cup host cities. However, according to current FIFA practice, the number of host cities is limited between eight and ten. The Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) requested permission to assign 12 cities hosting World Cup Finals. On 26 December 2008, FIFA gave the green light to the 12-city plan.
The 12 host cities for the 2014 World Cup were announced on 31 May 2009. Half of the chosen host cities will have their games in brand new venues built specifically for the World Cup, while the stadium for the capital Brasilia was demolished and will be rebuilt, and the remaining five are upgrading their current stadia.
Slogan
“All in One Rhythm” will be the official slogan of the FIFA World Cup 2014. The slogan will influence marketing and the development of themes for events such as the Fan Fest and the opening and closing ceremonies.
Mascot

Fuleco the Armadillo (born 1 January 2000) is the official mascot of the FIFA World Cup 2014. The name was chosen after a public voting process.From a total of 1.7 million people, more than 48 per cent voted for Fuleco, ahead of Zuzeco (31 per cent) and Amijubi (21 per cent), making it the unanimous winner. The mascot proved hugely popular within Brazil, with approximately 89 per cent Brazilians having seen the mascot. He is a likeable character – he scores 7.3 out of 10 on appeal.

Fuleco comes from the Portuguese words “Futebol” (football) and “Ecologia” (ecology), and it represents the way in which the FIFA World Cup can combine the two to encourage people to behave in an environmentally friendly way.


Prize Money
The winner of the FIFA World Cup 2014 will receive $35 million as prize money.  The runners-up will pocket $25m, with the third-placed side taking home $22m and the fourth-placed team will receive $20m. Teams that reach the quarterfinals will take home $14 million while teams finishing at the round of 16 stage will get $9 million. Additionally, all teams failing to qualify for the second round will receive $8 million.
Caxirola
The caxirola was certified on 27 September 2012 by the Brazilian Ministry of Sports as the official musical instrument of the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil, just like vuvuzelas in the case of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. The caxirola is not as loud as vuvuzelas are and has been specially designed to sound ‘acceptable’ in stadiums.
Goal-line technology
This will be the first World Cup ever in which goal-line technology will be used after successful implementation in the 2012 FIFA Club World Cup in Japan. The aim is to use GLT in order to support the match officials and to install a system in all stadiums, pending the successful installation, and pre-match referee tests.
FIFA World Cup 2014 total cost

The estimate cost of the FIFA World Cup 2014 is believed to be around US$ 14 billion. It will be the costliest Football World Cup until now. Before this, around 6 billion US dollars were spent in organising the 2006 World Cup.