It was a 25-minute opening extravaganza and it witnessed Brazil's nature, people and the one sport which has been part of the cultural fabric of this country. Singer and actress Jennifer Lopez, Brazilian pop star Claudia Leitte and rapper Pitbull performed ‘We Are One’ to the cheering 64,000 massive crowd at the Corinthians Arena in Sao Paulo. This is the second time Brazil is hosting a Football World cup and the last time was way back in 1950.
Hundreds of dances, drummers and gymnasts took part in the inauguration celebrations which cost around 4.5 Million Pounds. The national teams of 32 countries will be taking part in this 31 days biggest sporting event and a total of 64 matches are to be played in 12 cities across Brazil.
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Each team that gets eliminated in the group stage will get USD 8 million and teams who will exit in round of 16, will get USD 9 Millions. Eliminated teams in quarterfinals will get USD 14 million each. While the fourth placed team will be awarded with USD 20 million and third placed will get USD 22 million. The Runners will be rewarded with USD 25 Millions and the Winners of FIFA World Cup 2014 will bag USD 35 Million price money.
The official ball of 2014 World Cup is Adidas Brazuca and it is manufactured by Forward Sports of Sialkot, Pakistan for Adidas. For the first time, Goal-line technology will be used in the finals.
(AW: Vamshi)
