World Cup: The inside of Arena Corinthians looking clean, fresh & ready!

It`s cost a lot of money, taken a long time, the roof has collapsed in the process and with only days to go they are apparently still putting the finishing touches on the media centre and the VIP rooms.

Undoubtedly the Arena Corinthians, or Itaquerão, has had a troubled beginning.

Host to a number of matches in São Paulo, most of the stadium shots seen so far in the media have focused on the somewhat awkward-looking temporary stands which are due to be removed after the world cup and the lack of roof coverage which although part of the original plans is not an official Fifa requirement nor is it a fixture on many other world cup stadia.

However, if you stop to look past its troubled construction and have a look inside, it is clear Arena Corinthians is a top of the range stadium in every sense. There are 10 escalators, 15 lifts, 2 ramps and 13 staircases. It comes complete with an Auditorium for 360 people, a convention center and 6 different changing rooms!

The São Paulo team Corinthians, who will inherit it, have got themselves a flush building with some impressive features. Stairwells, concourses, corridors and rooms, everything is designed in the club colours of black and white.

Below are some choice photos of different areas which have not had a lot of exposure in the local or international press so far and which give an insight into what the day to day workings of the stadium will be like once operational.

Main concourse area

Press room

Home changing rooms

Home changing rooms

Away changing rooms

Away changing rooms

Stairways

The view from the stands

Corinthians football club launches an official funeral service

It's not the first time Corinthians has had a mention on this blog but neither is it every day that a football club launches a funeral service. 

Capitalising on its huge and often fanatical following, Corinthians has decided to team up with funeral service company Memorial to come up with a package complete with branded coffin, official wreath in club colours as well as the playing of the club anthem at the memorial service.

Under the deal the São Paulo football club pockets 7% of the proceeds of every funeral service sold.

If you're interested you can book your funeral here: http://www.corinthiansparasempre.com.br/

Corinthians launch a blood-stained replica shirt

Corinthians, the biggest club in São Paulo by some margin, is well known for the 'to the death' loyalty and radicalism of its fan base. Similarly the players perceived to give most for the shirt are the ones that go down as legendarily Corinthiano.

In these stakes few surpass Zé Maria who in 1979 literally bled for the club as he played through a game against Ponte Preta despite a shirt soaked with blood from a facial injury suffered during the game.

Zé Maria and his 1979 blood stained shirt

No surprise then that fans with a long memory and longstanding commitment to Corinthians were delighted to see official homage being paid to Zé Maria last week. Bizarrely for anyone without the context, a giant blood stained shirt was unfurled before the game in São Paulo last Wednesday,

Giant version of Ze Maria's blood soaked shirt unveiled in the Pacaembu stadium

And if that wasn't enough it was announced this week that an official Corinthians replica shirt will be created complete with blood stain so fans can wear their very own Camisa Sangrenta and the man who bled for the club can be eternalised or at least his image can be merchandised by the club's marketing department.

São Paulo vs Buenos Aires - The rivalry in graphics

Inspired by the hit blog Paris versus New York, a Sampa versus Buenos Aires spin off has been created by Vivian Mota which covers an illustrated vision of the rivalry between South America's two greatest cities: São Paulo and Buenos Aires.

They are good humoured, tongue in cheek comparisons of the best of both cities. You need a little background knowledge of the respective cities and their cultures but if you're lucky enough to have that you will definitely appreciate the these prints.


Below are a selection of my favourites. For those of you who have been paying attention to recent sporting events, the fourth one down is particularly topical. And if you really like them , you can even buy them on the official site.

And the winner is... Sampa, of course!!

VIDEO: Reaction of Corinthian fans in a local bar in São Paulo to Fluminense's equaliser against Vasco

This weekend there were two games to go in the Brasileirão, Corinthians were 2 points ahead of Vasco and winning against Figuerense. Anything but a win for Vasco and Corinthians would take the title. That's the background and here's how the guys in my neighbourhood reacted to Fluminense's equalising goal against Vasco:

Emotional stuff. However Vasco went on to win the game so the league will go down to the wire on the final match of the season which sees Corinthians up against local rival Palmeiras. Can't wait..

Corinthians reach 1 million Facebook fans

Social media is growing at lightening speed in Brazil. In October 2010 it officially became Twitter's number 1 country and Facebook is now in full growth phase having seen initial growth hampered by the widespread use of the local rival Orkut.

Last week Corinthians, which is the most followed club in São Pualo, proudly announced that they were the first Brazilian football club to reach 1 million fans on Facebook and celebrated by integrating Corinthians TV into their Facebook fan page:

You can watch it here:

The impressive bit is that half of their fans became fans in the last 3 and a half months, that's a rate of about 165,000 new fans per month or 5,500 per day, not bad!

Farewell Ronaldo Fenômeno

All good things come to an end. And so it was yesterday. A wet and windy thunderstorm in São Paulo preceded the official farewell of Ronaldo at the legendary Pacaembu stadium where he used to play with Corinthians. The guy was clearly overweight, out of shape and out of his depth and whilst I was amazed the medics let him on the pitch at all nobody else cared; the city had stopped to say “obrigado” to  “o Fenômeno” and nothing else mattered.

Official Goodbye to Ronaldo

And Fenômeno he is. Possibly the greatest number 9 we’ve seen in the modern game he was head and shoulders above his team mates at pretty much every club he went to as well as breaking all imaginable records at the highest level for the seleção. But amid the fanfare and the tears and the memories the burning question was; who on earth is going to replace him? And that is what many of the secondary headlines in today’s newspapers have picked up on. You would have thought the football factory that is Brazil would be able to produce another number 9 but the expectations are unreasonably high. The current coach has already tried André, Diego Tardelli, Hulk, Nilmar, Fred, Alexandre Pato, Jonas as well as Leandro Damião, none of which cut the mustard when you compare with the Fenômeno. Adriano and Luis Fabiano are a little better but only a little and both are ageing and injured.

So who will be the next Fenômeno? Ironically Ronaldo himself may have the answer. In fact he has already told the press who his best replacement is and it is none other than the very player he is now an agent for. It sounds a bit biased but then again we are talking about Neymar, the wonder kid from Santos (Santos is a city in São Paulo state where a certain Pelé began his career) . And when Ronaldo entered the pitch last night, it was Neymar who immediately created a chance for him, not just because he’s his boss but because the player has the unusual ability to create something out of nothing, the creativity, the wow factor. And although he’s only 19, he’s already a huge media icon in Brazil with rumours afoot that the big European clubs will come in for him soon but for now he’s just another wonder kid and to surpass Ronaldo is a big big ask…

So for today at least, let’s just pay homage and say Adeus to the one and only Fenômeno!