Last Updated: Tuesday, June 10, 2014, 20:43
This stadium is one of the older stadiums in Brazil. It was inaugurated back in 1972. Estadio Joao Claudio de Vasconcelos Machado, popularly referred to as Machadao has been witness to some of the greatest battles in Natal`s football history. Natal is the capital of Rio Grande do Norte, a state in Brazil. Three local teams that represent Natal are ABC, Alecrim and America. All these teams have been part of Brazil`s top flight football at some point in time.
Despite rich history of the existing venue, for Natal to host a World Cup game, thereby joining eleven other cities as official host cities, a new stadium with world class amenities was required. Hence the demolition of Machadão and Humberto Nesi sports hall was proposed. A new stadium called the Humberto Nesi sports was constructed within a span of two years on this site. The name and structure of the stadium resemble sand dunes, which are a popular attraction of Natal. This stadium can accommodate close to 40,000 people and will host four world cup games.
Following is the list of matches that will be hosted at this venue:
13 June 2014; Mexico v Cameroon16 June 2014: Ghana v USA19 June 2014: Japan v Greece24 June 2014: Italy v Uruguay
First Published: Sunday, June 8, 2014, 18:26