Arena Corinthians

Key facts

Club: SC Corinthians | Capacity: 48,000 seats | Scheduled opening: Dec. 2013 | Status: under construction

Description

The Arena Corinthians, also referred to as Arena de Itaquera, is the currently under construction new stadium of SC Corinthians, and as such will replace Corinthians’ current Estádio do Pacaembu. It will also be one of the playing venues during the 2014 World Cup, hosting among others the opening match, a round of 16 match, and one of the two semi-finals.

The stadium will have a capacity of 48,000 seats, however in order to qualify for hosting the opening match FIFA requires a minimum capacity of 65,000, hence a total of 20,000 removable seats will be installed at the stadium during the World Cup. These will be removed after.

The total construction costs are estimated to be R$820 million, which will be part publicly and part privately financed.

Arena Corinthians will be located in the east of the city of São Paulo, in the Itaquera area, about 17 kilometres from São Paulo’s downtown. Metro line 3 will connect the stadium to the centre. Stop Corinthians-Itaquera will be at short walking distance.

Building works started in May 2011, with a planned construction time of 33 months, which means that the stadium is expected to be completed in December 2013. As a result the stadium will not be hosting any matches during the 2013 Confederations Cup.

At the moment foundation works have been completed and works are currently being performed on constructing the stands. In April 2012 Corinthians stated that 30% of the building works had been finished.