If Manaus had any ambition of hosting any Olympic soccer matches, they may just want to slow down their thinking. Last Thursday, leaders of the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics added the Amazonian capital to a list of six cities planned to host Olympic soccer matches next year. On Friday, FIFA released a statement saying, “we do not consider Manaus as a suitable first option for a hosting venue.” The other five cities are — Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Brasilia, Belo Horizonte and Salvador.
Located 1,800 miles from Rio, Manaus became famous last summer when it hosted four World Cup matches at the Arena da Amazonia. FIFA will wait until Match to decide where or not to approve the city as a venue. FIFA elaborated further on the their position of it not being a suitable first option: “Given the Olympic football tournament is only two weeks long, FIFA’s preference has also always been on short distances between the other football venues and the Olympic city Rio de Janeiro to provide the participating teams with the best possible Olympic experience.”
It’s not out of the norm for soccer matches to be hosted far away from the Olympic City. With that being said, 1,800 miles is too much of a distance to cover. The environment took a toll on the eight teams that played there during the World Cup. It’s a beautiful stadium but it is not the right venue to play soccer during the 2016 Summer Olympics in Brazil. In the end, FIFA will do the correct thing and turn down the Amazonian capital and choose another city to be the sixth venue.- vavel.com
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