Sports
See also: 2014 FIFA World Cup and Sports in BrazilFootball is a passion of the people from Porto Alegre. There is a big rivalry between two football clubs, Grêmio Foot-Ball Porto Alegrense, founded in 1903, and Sport Club Internacional, founded in 1909. Both teams belong to the national elite and have also won South American top honours by winning the Copa Libertadores, and the highest global trophy for football clubs, the Intercontinental Cup, respectively its successor, the Club World Cup.
Porto Alegre will be one of the host cities of the World Cup 2014, for which Brazil is the host nation. The modernization of the Beira-Rio Stadium, home of SC Internacional, at this stage having a capacity for 58,000 spectators, is currently in progress with a view of becoming the city's World Cup venue.
Local rivals Grêmio play in their own stadium, the Estádio Olímpico Monumental which can host a crowd of up to 45,000 people. The club is currently building a brand new stadium at the Humaitá district within FIFA/UEFA standards. The stadium will host up to 60,000 people plus bringing development to the north part of the city.
Read more about this topic: Porto Alegre
Famous quotes containing the word sports:
“The whole idea of image is so confused. On the one hand, Madison Avenue is worried about the image of the players in a tennis tour. On the other hand, sports events are often sponsored by the makers of junk food, beer, and cigarettes. What’s the message when an athlete who works at keeping her body fit is sponsored by a sugar-filled snack that does more harm than good?”
—Martina Navratilova (b. 1956)
“It is usual for a Man who loves Country Sports to preserve the Game in his own Grounds, and divert himself upon those that belong to his Neighbour.”
—Joseph Addison (1672–1719)
“Sweet smiling village, loveliest of the lawn,
Thy sports are fled and all thy charms withdrawn;
Amidst thy bowers the tyrant’s hand is seen,
And desolation saddens all thy green;
One only master grasps the whole domain,
And half a tillage stints thy smiling plain;”
—Oliver Goldsmith (1730?–1774)