The Match Schedule for the 20th edition of the FIFA World Cup was announced in Zurich on 20 October 2011, giving a clearer picture of how teams and supporters will have to structure their travel plans for the event.
The 64 matches will be played in 12 cities across the country, with Sao Paulo finally overcoming its wealth of problems to confirm its right to host the Opening Match on 12 June 2014. Rio de Janeiro remains the venue for the Final. Hosts Brazil will be seeded as A1 and will therefore play the opening match in Sao Paulo and the remaining two group matches in Fortaleza and Brasilia.
All 12 cities will host at least four of the 64 matches, with the final on July 13 at Maracana stadium – according to the schedule, Brazil can only play in Maracana if it reaches the final. The semi-finals will be held in Belo Horizonte and Sao Paulo, with the third place match in Brasilia.
The kick-off have been set as follows (all Brasilia local time – Australian EST is +13 hours):
Opening Match: 17.00
Group Stage matches: 13.00, 16.00, 19.00, 22.00
Round of 16/Quarter-finals: 13.00, 17.00
Semi-finals: 17.00
Match for Third Place: 17.00
Final: 16.00
Venues have also been confirmed for the FIFA Confederations Cup 2013, which will see the champions of the six confederations as well as hosts Brazil and world champions Spain compete between 15 and 30 June 2013. Currently, four host cities and four key matches have been confirmed, while the full match schedule to be confirmed in June 2012. Five teams have already qualified for the tournament in 2013: the Asian champions Japan, CONCACAF Gold Cup winners Mexico, South American champions Uruguay, as well as Spain and Brazil. Key matches include:
Opening Match: Brasilia
Semi-final matches: Belo Horizonte, Fortaleza
Final: Rio de Janeiro