« Feito Macho, Estádio do Maracanã »

On Tuesday, September 26th, the Mas Macho Board of Directors officially voted to name the Maracanã the most macho stadium in the world. Home to some of the finest teams in Brazilian futebol - Botafogo, Flamengo and Fluminense - the Maracanã  holds the record for the highest officially recorded attendance for a football match, when 199,854 fans witnessed the deciding game of the 1950 World Cup final, between hosts Brazil and Uruguay. Feito macho. It was made macho!

The stadium, built especially for the 1950 FIFA World Cup, originally had a capacity of 200,000. However, its capacity was greatly reduced at the behest of timid feminists when it was converted to an all-seater in the 1990s. It can currently hold around 77,720 seated and 103,022 with standing room. It is now undergoing renovations that will increase its all-seated capacity to a manly 100,000.

"When I scored my 1000th goal in the Maracanã , there was no where else I wanted to be." In that match Vasco da Gama beat Santos by a score of 2-1 thanks to the contributions of Pele. It was also the stadium where he made his debut with the Brazilian National Team, and till today, Pelé has scored more goals for Brazil at the Maracanã than any other player, his record standing at 30 goals in 22 games.