The Arena Castelão is football stadium located in the city of Fortaleza in the Northeast of Brazil. The stadium’s official name is Estádio Governador Plácido Castelo from which its more common nickname is derived. The stadium originally opened in 1973 and has been renovated and expanded several times over the past 50 years currently able to accommodate 57,867 spectators.

The stadium originally opened with a modest design featuring a single tier flanked by two large grandstands.  In 1980 the two, second tier grandstands were expanded to fully encircle the seating bowl and greatly increase the overall seating capacity. In 2002 a roof was added to the stadium for the first. This addition was short lived as the stadium would receive its largest ever refurbishment in 2013 in the lead up to the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

In preparation for the World Cup the stadium’s interior and exterior areas where heavily modified. On the inside the lower tier was demolished and rebuilt with improvements also made to the stadium’s amenities. On the outside, the stadium’s roof was rebuilt in order cover all spectators and the exterior façade was modernised with the addition of the stadium’s distinctive claw-like design.

The stadium hosted six games at the 2014 FIFA World Cup, four group games, one round of 16 match and a quarterfinal. The stadium is currently the home ground of Ceará Sporting Club and Fortaleza Esporte Clube. Pope John Paul II attended a mass at the stadium 1980 which saw the stadium’s highest ever attendance of 120,000.

The stadium is located approximately 12km from the centre of Fortaleza. Public transport options to the stadium are limited. We recommend organising transport to and from the stadium with your hotel beforehand. Expect the trip to take approximately 30 minutes.