Football: Now it`s time for Brazil

All eyes were focused on South Africa for one whole month as the giants of world football and fans all gathered to test the skills of the masters of the game and experience the resulting thrills. But now that the FIFA World Cup is over, let's look ahead to the next one — which is four long years away — and find out what has been planned.

Being South America's turn to host the World Cup in 2014, Brazil, Argentina and Colombia all showed interest in having this mega event in their country, and on March 17, 2004, Brazil was unanimously voted as the host.

This World Cup is very significant in FIFA history as this will be the first time after the 1978 World Cup in Argentina, that the tournament will be held in South America, and the first time that the Southern Hemisphere will host two consecutive World Cups. And this will also give Brazil the privilege of being one of the few countries, alongside Italy, Germany, Mexico and France, to host the World Cup twice.

Usually FIFA only allows 8 to 10 cities to host matches, but in Brazil's case, FIFA has granted permission to 12 cities of the country, provided of course that the international standards are met.

The Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF), wants to have the opening match at Sao Paulo, in Estadio do Morumbi, but it will depend on the improvements made there and the popular opinion is that the final will be held at Rio de Janeiro, at the Maracana Stadium, which was also the venue for the final of the 1950 World Cup.

Unlike 1950, this time the cities hosting the tournament are spread throughout the country, so transportation is an issue that is being looked into.

High-speed trains, connecting some of the host cities, are being planned and billions are being spent to upgrade the airports.

Thirty-two teams qualify for this mega event, with the hosts gaining automatic qualification and the other 31 teams, from the six FIFA confederations, will qualify by facing other teams from the same confederation. Brazil is the only team that has played every FIFA World Cup. Unlike previous instances, the current champions Spain will not be automatically eligible for the 2014 event but will have to qualify like the other teams.

The logo of the tournament was revealed at Johannesburg, South Africa, on July 8, 2010. It's named “Inspiration”, and is a notion of three hands raising the FIFA Cup, and it also shows the humanitarian symbol of hands interlinking.

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