Yesterday Mr.Joseph Blatter, president of world football's governing body FIFA, has unveiled the name of the 12 venue cities for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. It will have been 64 years since the last world cup was held in Brazil (1950). Fifa has selected 12 Brazilian cities to host matches at the 2014 World Cup finals. These are Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Manaus, Belo Horizonte, Natal, Fortaleza, Curitiba, Salvador, Brasilia, Cuiaba, Recife and Porto Alegre.

"In the very beginning, 10 cities were going to be chosen, but thanks to the influence of Ricardo Teixeira [the Brazilian Football Confederation president] and the interest of the whole country, we agreed increasing the number to 12," said Blatter.

The decision by the executive committee of world football's governing body was made in Nassau, the capital of the Bahamas. Five candidate cities were omitted from the final list: Florianopolis, Goiania, Campo Grande, Belem and Rio Branco.


Fans in the 12 Brazilian cities chosen to host 2014 World Cup matches erupted in a public rejoicing after the announcement was made.

Sunday News 31/05/2009: