Arena da Baixada/import

Estádio Joaquim Américo Guimarães, commonly referred to as Arena da Baixada, is a football stadium in the Água Verde neighborhood of Curitiba, Paraná. Opened in 1914, it is the home field of Atlético Paranaense, who also owns and operates the stadium. The stadium will be one of the host venues for the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

History
The stadium was built at the previous location of a Brazilian Army powder depot. In 1934, the stadium was renamed Estádio Joaquim Américo Guimarães. In the 1970s, the original stadium was closed down. After being reopened in 1984 and operating for some years, the old stadium building was demolished on March 26, 1997, right after a construction project of a new arena was announced. In June 1999, the new stadium was built. In 2005, the stadium was renamed Kyocera Arena, after the Japanese company Kyocera purchased the naming rights.

The inaugural match of the old stadium was played on September 6, 1914, when Flamengo beat Internacional 7–1. The first goal of the stadium was scored by Flamengo's Arnaldo.

The inaugural match of the new building was played on June 24, 1999, when Atlético Paranaense beat Cerro Porteño of Paraguay 2–1. The first goal of the stadium after its reinauguration was scored by Atlético's Lucas.

The stadium's attendance record currently stands at 31,740, set on December 16, 2001 when Atlético Paranaense beat São Caetano 4–2, on the first game of that year's Brazilian Championship finals. Although the stadium was not the venue of the 1950 FIFA World Cup, the Estádio Vila Capanema was the venue for Curitiba as a host city of the event but Arena da Baixada is older the Vila Capanema.

The contract with Kyocera that gave the company naming rights expired in early 2008. It was not renewed, and no new partnership was announced. The stadium went back to its old name, Arena da Baixada.

2014 FIFA World Cup
Ever since renovation works were completed in June 1999, the historic Estádio Joaquim Américo has been considered one of Brazil’s most modern and best-appointed stadiums.

It came as no surprise, therefore, that the home ground of Atlético Paranaense, which was originally constructed back in 1914, was among those venues chosen to host games at the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

Prior to welcoming the global showpiece, however, the stadium will undergo another set of renovation works which are due for completion in 2014. Included in this process are a series of improvements in facilities and the addition of rows of extra seats parallel to the pitch as well as enclosing the stadium with a retractable roof. This will result in an increased capacity of 40,000, with the stadium set to welcome four World Cup matches.

Building work at the stadium was suspended in October 2013 on the orders of a Brazilian labor tribunal due to numerous and serious safety breaches. “Countless infractions have been committed, in various stages of the building project,” wrote the judge Lorena Colnago in her decision, the Paraná Regional Labor Tribunal said in a statement.

On January 22, 2014, FIFA General Secretary Jerome Valcke visited the site and stated that Curitiba could be dropped as a World Cup host city if sufficient progress in the renovation of the arena was not shown by February 18, 2014. On that day, FIFA decided to keep Curitiba as a playing city.