The year is 1950:

GOOOLLLLL! Brazil scores 1-0! The whole country is boiling of excitement, Maracana is burning, finally we are going to win, at the FIFA world cup and in Brazil. But… Uruguay wanted something else! GOOOOLL! 1-1. 11 minutes before the end of the game , GOOOOL 1-2, Uruguay is now leading. Brazil is giving their best the last minuets, but no goal and the referee blows the whistle. It’s suddenly deadly quite. As if the country stopped to exist. Brazil has lost its first World Cup final at their own home stadium the Maracana.

Experience a football game:

This is a must experience for everyone, even those who haven’t seen a single game. Football is the number one religion here, trust me people pray more at the stadium than home. Everyone has their team to cheer for, such as Corincas, Palmeiras, Flamengo, São Paulo and Vasco da gama. During our visit to Rio de Janerio Vasco da Gama was playing against ABC. Of course we were going! Football madness, Brazil!

The MaracanA:

We were lucky to get a ticket to see the game at the enormous Maracanā, with a capacity of 79000 sitting. But before it’s modernization, Maracanā had the biggest audience ever at a football game, 199,850 came to see Brazil play the World Cup final against Uruguay.

We enter the stadium, 30min before game start. It’s a bit empty I think, where are all the crazy fans! I ask a supporter next to me, why is it not full in the stadium? Don’t you know, Vasco is playing in the second league now, fighting their way up to the first. Trust me you won’t be disappointed, the supporter says. And I didn’t get disappointed!

The referee blows the whistle, the game is on! Vasco takes control and shows directly that they belong in the first league, the opponent ABC is going to have a hard time winning today. As the game evolves and more and more people arrives, the atmosphere becomes like I imagined it, everyone is singing, cheering and swearing. It’s a football party here and I’m also singing along, though I don’t know a word of Portuguese.

The Vasco players fall inside the penalty area, the stadium is suddenly quite, the referee blows the whistle, PENALTY! VASCO, VASCO, VASCO, the whole stadium is cheering, we are winning and one step closer levering up to the first league. Again it gets quite, Vascos best attacker will take the penalty. He gets ready, aims and shoots! GOOOOLLL! Everyone is standing up, hugging each other and dancing. Yes we did it! VASCO, VASCO, VASCO!

Make it happen:

A football game at the Maracanã stadium:

• You can buy different type of tickets directly at the stadium, with prices ranging from $10 to $100 for a game. Booking through a tour operator is an option but be ready to pay around $100+ for the convenience
• We went to the Maracanã stadium to buy the tickets and got a good one for 60 Real per person, around $ 22. But you must go at least 2h before the game to be sure to get a ticket.