Castelão Stadium

The Governador Plácido Castelo Stadium, known as Castellan, is a Brazilian football stadium located in Fortaleza, Ceará, and opened in 1973. It is the largest and most modern stadium in the Northeast of Brazil, being the 4th largest in the country, surpassed only by Maracana and Morumbi. The stadium was redesigned in 2002 and completely redesigned again in 2012, aiming at the FIFA World Cup 2014, World Cup for the castellan receive six games, among them two games of the Brazilian team.

His official capacity, even before the reform started in 2011 was 60,326 people [1] and has played host to major sporting and cultural events, such as games of the Brazilian and the reception of Pope John Paul II in 1980 during his visit to Fortaleza. In 2013 will be one of the venues for the Confederations Cup in 2014 will receive matches of the World Cup, and in 2016, will be one of the Training centers for the Olympus to be held in Rio de Janeiro.

CONSTRUCTION

It fell then Aderaldo Castle (former governor of the state of Ceará) to start the construction of an Olympic stadium in Fortaleza. In 1968, they created the Sports Federation Service of the State of Ceará (FADEC), to coordinate the work. The governor Aderaldo Castle wanted the stadium was erected in the neighborhood of Alagadiço, in the west of Fortaleza. High costs to the expropriations unfeasible idea. Other areas of the city were in the neighborhoods studied the Pici and Itaperi. Finally an area of ​​25 acres that belonged to the Santa Casa de Misericordia de Fortaleza was purchased for $ 400,000.00 Cr - four hundred thousand cruises - the time

INAUGURATION

The stadium was inaugurated on November 11, 1973, by the then Governor César Cals de Oliveira Filho. [8] An audience estimated 70,000 people attended the inaugural match between Ceará and Fortaleza. The Classic-called King of Football Ceará ended with the score at 0-0. When opening the stadium had only two flights of bleachers (the parts behind the goals was still to be completed). The former governor and Placido Castelo Governor César Cals authorities welcomed the political and sports, especially the president of the defunct CBD, Silvio Pacheco, plus the playmaker Leonidas da Silva, the "Black Diamond".

REFORM

New Castellan Stadium under construction in August 2012.

Mockup internal Stadium in 2014.

The Castellan is one of the Brazilian stadiums elected to be the headquarters of the 2014 World Cup to be held in Brazil. The stadium renovation project foresees the expansion of its coverage, which will completely cover all the seats, the construction of an underground car park with 4,200 spaces and the approach of the lower stands at 16 meters, compared to the field. With these reforms, the stadium capacity would rise to 67,037.

The concept of the project was to transform the stadium Castellan one of the great centers of the Olympic Country and also a huge tourist complex. The new arena which was reopened on December 16, 2012 and has cinemas and restaurants. The stadium was closed officially on March 31, 2011 in order to reform the World Cup 2014. The last game was valid for Cup Brazil 2011, when the Ceará took 35,000 fans against Brasiliense. In a survey made by the magazine Veja, the Castellan was ranked as the "only stadium whose pace of budget execution is appropriate."

In total, we invested R $ 518.6 million. The arena has gained an underground car park with 4,200 spaces, also structures such as cabins, VIP area, press section, the mixed zone and changing rooms completely renovated. All seats are covered, also received a square of 55 square meters which embraces the whole arena, hospitality area and; internal modifications to meet the specifications of FIFA, including expanding the audience capacity will be increased to 67,037 places.