Brasilia crowd shatters futsal record

Brazilian Futsal World Cup star Kaka. Kaka visited Grimsby to coach 2013.

Brazilian Futsal World Cup star Kaka. Kaka visited Grimsby to coach 2013.

What do you do with a Brazilian World Cup stadium that has no first division club? Convert it into a futsal stadium. Brasilia’s Estadio Mane Garrincha, one of Brazil’s white elephant stadiums, drew 56,483 fans — a record crowd — for a futsal international between Brazil and Argentina.

The match, won by Brazil, 4-1, marked the return of Brazilian futsal superstar Falcao. Argentina was coming off a two-game sweep — 6-0 and 2-0 — over Keith Tozer’s USA futsal national team in Buenos Aires.
The match was played on Sunday — Dia da Independência (Brazil’s Independence Day).
The old record was 25,712 fans for the Liga Futsal final in Belo Horizonte in 1999.
Stadiums in Cuiaba, Manaus and Natal also lack a big-time club to use the club on a regular basis.
Paul Kennedy, Soccer America. Click here to read more