Brazilian Soccer Stadiums Put To Use In Fight Against Coronavirus Pandemic

In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, Brazil’s national game has been put on hold indefinitely: leagues are suspended, players and fans cooped up at home, and stadiums and training grounds empty. With that in mind, some clubs and soccer stadiums in the country have opened their doors to assist in combating the spread of the disease.

The most emblematic examples are the temporary transformations of two of the country’s most historically significant stadiums, the Pacaembu in São Paulo and Maracanã in Rio de Janeiro, into hospitals to help ease potential overcrowding in permanent facilities.

The Pacaembu field, a stretch of turf that witnessed over 100 of Pelé’s 1281 career goals, is now home to 202 hospital beds, which are set to be opened for use in early April for patients with less severe cases of COVID-19. The idea is to free up space in hospital intensive care units for patients in graver conditions. São Paulo is the epicenter of infections in Brazil, with 1,451 confirmed cases by March 29.

Meanwhile, the Maracanã, one of the great cathedrals of world soccer which was refurbished before the 2014 FIFA World Cup, is starting to undergo a similar transformation.

Last Thursday, Rio governor Wilson Witzel announced that the entire complex, which normally plays host to games of local clubs Flamengo and Fluminense, will be put to use for the benefit of health professionals, though the details of how that will look were not immediately released. According to Witzel the facility will be ready by April 10.

As well as the Maracanã, other arenas built or renovated for the 2014 World Cup will be taken over as part of the efforts to combat the pandemic. The Mané Garrincha stadium in Brasília, seen in Brazil as a glaring symbol of the wastefulness and corruption that surrounded the organisation of the World Cup, will now be turned into a temporary medical facility.

The private company that administers the arena, which was built especially for the World Cup and has stood largely empty ever since, has made it available to local government agencies. On Monday, it was announced that 200 hospital beds are to be constructed on the grass.

Like the Mané Garrincha, the Arena Corinthians in São Paulo, Beira-Rio Stadium in Porto Alegre and Arena da Baixada in Curitiba staged World Cup matches and will be used in the fight against COVID-19.

Clubs and Training Centers

In addition to the conversion of these stadiums, many clubs have made other resources available to the authorities.

EC Bahia, from the city of Salvador, is well known for its social conscience and was one of the first to act. On March 19, it posted on Twitter that its Fazendão training ground would be handed over to the State Health Ministry. The facility has already been inspected and declared fit for purpose.

On the same day, famous Rio de Janeiro club Botafogo offered up its Nilton Santos stadium for use and Athletico Paranaense made their practice ground available to the Paraná state government. Since then, clubs from all over the country have followed suit, including giants of the game like São Paulo, Santos, Palmeiras, Vasco Da Gama, Flamengo and Cruzeiro.

ABC FC, a popular fourth-division outfit from Rio Grande do Norte state, made known the availability of their stadium and said that they, “congratulate for and express acknowledgement of the measures taken by the state government in confronting the COVID-19 pandemic.”

In the state of São Paulo, many clubs also took advantage of their reach and influence to urge people to take precautionary measures. In conjunction with the state soccer authority, the FPF, some even published altered versions of their crests to raise awareness of the importance of social distancing, hand washing and covering one’s mouth properly when coughing or sneezing.

The fight against the spread of coronavirus and the effort deal with the effects of COVID-19 may have only just begun in Brazil, but the beautiful game is doing its bit.