The Estádio do Maracanã, also known as Maracanã stadium (official name: Estádio Jornalista Mário Filho, Maracanã being its neighborhood's name) in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) is one of the biggest football stadiums in the world, and it is home for three of the four biggest football clubs in Rio: Flamengo, Botafogo and Fluminense.

The stadium, built for the 1950 World Cup, originally had a capacity of 200,000. However, its capacity was greatly reduced when it was converted to an all-seater in the 1990s; it can currently hold around 77,720 seated and 103,022 with standing room. It is now undergoing renovations that will increase its all-seated capacity to around 100,000.

The 1950 deciding match between Brazil and Uruguay was hosted at the Maracanã stadium, and Brazil only needed a draw to win, but lost the match 2-1 after being 1-0 up; this match has since been known in South American Spanish-speaking nations as "Maracanazo".

On January 22, 2006, after nine months closed for reformation, the stadium was reopened. In the inaugural match, Botafogo beat Vasco da Gama 5-3.

The Campeonato Carioca finals usually are played at Maracanã stadium. Also, the stadium hosted the 2000 FIFA Club World Championship final between Vasco da Gama and Corinthians.

It is particularly famous for holding the fabled Fla-Flu, the classic showdown between Flamengo and Fluminense, widely regarded as one of the most spectacular sporting events in the world.

Former Flamengo midfielder Zico is the stadium top scorer: 333 goals in 435 matches.

(Source: Wikipedia)

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