Cup winner will rack up frequent flyer miles

Updated: 2011-10-22 08:02

(China Daily)

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ZURICH - World Cup teams and supporters face a marathon of travelling after organizers decided countries must play their group games in different venues around Brazil at the 2014 World Cup.

Rio de Janeiro was confirmed as the venue for the final and Sao Paulo was awarded the opening match featuring Brazil, even though it has barely started work on its Itaquerao stadium.

Sao Paulo and Belo Horizonte will stage the semifinals, and the capital Brasilia will get the third-place playoff.

The match schedule was announced at a brief televised ceremony at the headquarters of world governing body FIFA on Thursday.

Matches will kick off at 16:00, 19:00 and 22:00 GMT - that's midnight, 3 am and 6 a.m. in Beijing.

The surprise was that organizers decided against basing teams in single venues, which means some must travel thousands of miles between matches in one of the world's biggest countries.

It had been expected teams would play their group matches in two venues at most to cut down travelling in a country over-dependant on air transport that is limited and unreliable.

"The teams will travel around the country so that not just the biggest cities get the best teams," said Ricardo Teixeira, president of the local organizing committee and Brazilian FA.

The team eventually drawn as number two in Group A will have to play in Sao Paulo in the Southeast, then travel to Manaus, a 31/2 hour flight away, and finally Recife.

Flights between Manaus and Recife nearly always involve a connection, taking a total of six to nine hours.

The road journey is 5,700 km according to Brazil's transportation department.

The team drawn as number four in Group D might have to play its first game in Cuiaba, where temperatures in June can top 30 Celsius, and its second in Porto Alegre, where temperatures can drop to near freezing.

"It's a big task and a long job - we had 57 versions of the match schedule," said FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke.

"We took into account medical factors, logistics, travel and accommodation."

Many other teams face at least one long flight in their schedules while fans may struggle to get on a plane at all due to the limited supply of seats.

Brazilian authorities have already admitted the country's outdated airports are the biggest worry facing the tournament.

Sao Paulo, Brazil's largest city, was in danger of missing out on the tournament last year after its original venue, the Morumbi, was ruled out because local authorities could not provide financial guarantees for stadium reform.

It was then decided to use the new Itaquerao stadium being planned by Corinthians, though work on that only started in June.

Reuter