Considering that some important brazilian stadiums, including stadiums that were World Cup Standart stadiums (like Grêmio Arena), were left out of the 2014 World Cup, I was wondering about other World Cups, which were in your opinion the best stadiums in S.Africa, Germany, Japan/SKorea, and also previous World Cups, that could have easily hosted World Cup games, but for one reason or other were left out?
Stanford stadium in 1994 was a weak choice. Jack Murphy Stadium or Candlestick Park would have been better choices at the time.
Stanford Stadium in its '94 state should never have been selected as a WC venue. The place was decaying and those wooden stairways were a potential deathtrap. Candlestick was a baseball stadium back then and they ruled out consideration of MLB stadia. I guess they were anxious for games in the Bay Area and Stanford was the only viable choice. White City - used for the '48 Olympics - got selected for one game in '66 because Wembley was being used for greyhound racing that day (I kid you not). Somewhere like Highbury or White Hart Lane would have been preferable.
In 1994 Miami's Joe Robbie Stadium at the time was every bit as good as Orlando's citrus bowl but the Marlins were playing baseball there so they messed everything up.
Will be in Porto Alegre for the World Cup. Do you know if they do stadium tours at the Gremio Arena??? If so could you point me where to look Thanks
obviously you can call me biased, but in a World Cup with so many protests because of public spending on stadiums AND stadium construction delays... it´s a shame that Grêmio Arena, private and finished in december 2012 was not selected to the Cup.
Yeah it's a shame they couldn't choose Gremio stadium. I mean, I suppose they could have, but that would make two in one area. I was only a kid when the World Cup was in the states and I wasn't into soccer much then. I'm sad we kinda blew our chance to host the world cup for a while. I think in another 10 years we'll be much more ready for it. I'd like to see it come back and get to enjoy some games.
Just off the top of my head, I'd say USA had the worst WC stadiums and Germany had the best WC stadiums.
yeah, just like Gremio Arena and Beira Rio. Quite regrettable. this one will host the World Cup and these are it´s lower tier circulation areas a few days ago (they will be like that in the World Cup) view of the pitch in the first row... oops, where are the sidelines? this one was never even considered for the World Cup, despite having larger capacity, being more modern, having crowds CLOSER to the pitch and with better viewing angles, and being finished one year earlier than the first stadium renovation works. 1st tier 2nd tier 4th tier view of the pitch at first row
Looking back, USA did not have as many viable options for hosting venues as it does today. The Silverdome was the first and so far, the only totally enclosed stadium to host World Cup games. Practically every NFL stadium in use today has hosted soccer matches (exceptions are Lambeau Field, Louisiana Superdome, Ralph Wilson Stadium in Buffalo, the Georgia Dome, whatever the stadium in San Diego is called now, and Paul Brown Stadium in Cincinnati). After Schaefer Stadium in Foxboro was dismantled and replaced with Gillette Stadium, it marked the first time that an NFL Stadium was constructed with soccer in mind (greater field width in the stadium's design and ample room in the corners for set pieces). Most stadiums used for dual purposes in the U.S. have been built or re-furbished in the past 10 to 15 years, and even some college facilities are getting in on the idea (like Rentschler Field in Hartford). Stanford Stadium has had an over-haul since 1994. While the capacity was reduced dramatically (from 78,000 to about 55,000), it is a much more soccer-friendly place now than it was in 1994. Despite the seeming lack of quality stadiums at the time, the 1994 World Cup remains the best-attended event in World Cup history, and that's when there only 24 teams involved in the Finals. Off the top of my head, here are the sites I remember from that '94 Cup. Foxboro--new stadium Orlando--same place, but re-furbished Meadlowlands--new stadium Chicago--same place, but re-furbished Dallas--same place, but re-furbished Detroit--new stadium (still entirely enclosed) Stanford--same place, but re-furbished Pasadena--same place, but re-furbished Washington--still being used, but not WC quality
Actually, I realized the Georgia Dome hosted some Gold Cup games in 2013. Not really sure about Cincinnati. San Diego probably has hosted professional and international matches too...I just can't remember the last time they did.
San Diego hosted Gold Cup matches in the 90s. They also had a friendly last year between the USA and Guatemala and have hosted many Mexican Friendlies in the Past..
For 2006 I believe the old Rheinstadion in Düsseldorf was demolished and rebuilt as the Rhein Arena in the hopes that they would be a venue. But they were beaten out in that region by Köln's Rhein-Energie-Stadion. This was a reversal of 1974 when the Rheinstadion beat out Cologne's then-brand new Müngersdorfer Stadion (which was eventualy demolished to make way for the Rhein-Energie-Stadion) to host matches. Probably not up to standard but given its footballing history with the Intercontinental Cup I was surprised that Tokyo's Olympic Stadium wasn't a venue in 2002.
I'd like to know more about this. I've been to games of Werder Bremen a couple of times. I liked the atmosphere. Also been to one Hannover game. Maybe they didn't select Bremen because of poor infrastructure? It's been a while, but I thought Hannover had better infrastructure around the stadium than Bremen. Anyway, would've preferred Bremen since it's also a bigger club than Hannover. Euro2016 they're going to leave out Nantes sadly.. it's a wonderful stadium.