As an official sponsor of the national Brazilian football team, TAM flew the players, coaches and accompanying journalists from Brazil to Johannesburg on June 11 to take part in the FIFA Confederations Cup. The tournament, a warm up for next year’s World Cup which begins on 11 June 2010, takes place in South Africa from 14-28 June and as well as Brazil includes the national teams of Spain, Italy, New Zealand, USA, Egypt, Iraq and South Africa.

The Brazilian team flew the “Magic Red Carpet” to South Africa aboard a specially painted TAM aircraft. The plane had been painted in the team colours that include the five gold stars that represent Brazil’s five world championships. The nose cone was painted to look like a football.

While global expectations are growing ahead of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, there is already great interest in the 20th World Cup that will be held in Brazil in 2014. It will be the first time that consecutive World Cups have been staged in the Southern Hemisphere and the first World Cup to be held in South America since 1978.

FIFA recently announced the host cities for the 2014 World Cup. Given the size of Brazil a total of 12 cities, rather than ten, have been selected. The cities that will now become global household names thanks to the World Cup include Belo Horizonte, Brasília, Cuiabá, Curitiba, Fortaleza, Manaus, Natal, Porto Alegre, Recife, Rio de Janeiro, Salvador and São Paulo.

As Brazil and the Southern Hemisphere’s largest airline, TAM is the only major international carrier to fly to all 12 of the Brazilian cites that will host the games at the 2014 World Cup. TAM currently flies to 42 cities in Brazil, and serves another 37 through commercial agreements with regional carriers. It also offers flights to 18 international destinations, including a daily service to London utilising Boeing 777-300ERs.

As in 1950, the final of the 2014 World Cup will be played at the Maracanã Stadium in Rio de Janeiro. In 1950 just 13 teams played in the 4th World Cup that was spread across the cities of Belo Horizonte, Curitiba, Porto Alegre, Recife, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. England played in Belo Horizonte and Rio de Janeiro, while Uruguay famously won the championship by beating Brazil in the last game of the tournament.

6/12/2009 10:08:54 AM UTC    Comments