The Arena das Dunas (" Dunes Arena") is a

football stadium Football stadium may refer to: * A stadium used in gridiron football, association football or Australian rules football * A soccer-specific stadium Soccer-specific stadium is a term used mainly in the United States and Canada to refer to a sp ...

Natal NATAL or Natal may refer to: Places * Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, a city in Brazil * Natal, South Africa (disambiguation), a region in South Africa ** Natalia Republic, a former country (1839–1843) ** Colony of Natal, a former British colony ( ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

. The arena can shelter 31,375 spectators, and was designed by sports architect Christopher Lee of Populous. The stadium hosted football matches for the 2014 FIFA World Cup held in Brazil. During the tournament, it had a seating capacity of 42,000. It was built in place of the

Machadão Estádio Dr. João Cláudio Vasconcelos Machado, usually known as Machadão, was a multi-purpose stadium in the Brazilian city of Natal, Rio Grande do Norte. It was mostly used for football matches. Estádio Machadão was owned by the Natal City ...

, which was demolished in 2011. This project replaced an old project called "''Estádio Estrela dos Reis Magos''" that would have been located in the neighboring municipality of

Parnamirim Parnamirim is a city in the state of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil, next to the state capital city of Natal and part of its metropolitan area. Natal Air Force Base - ALA10, one of the most important bases of the Brazilian Air Force, is located in ...

. In the new project, a shopping center and commercial buildings,

hotel A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a re ...

s of international standard and an artificial

lake A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much large ...

around the stadium will be built. The stadium is located by the Senador Salgado Filho Avenue (

BR-101 The BR-101 (also called ''Translitorânea'' (transcoastal), officially named ''Rodovia Governador Mário Covas''.highway A highway is any public or private road or other public way on land. It is used for major roads, but also includes other public roads and public tracks. In some areas of the United States, it is used as an equivalent term to controlled-acces ...

), a multi-lane road already served by the Complexo Viário do Quarto Centenário (Fourth Centennial Complex road or Complexo Viário Senador Carlos Alberto de Sousa). The project was one of the most praised by inspectors from FIFA.
Arena das Dunas, Natal, Brazil

2014 FIFA World Cup

Brazil national football team

References

External links

Official website of Arena das Dunas

Arena Guide - Tourist Information
Football venues in Rio Grande do Norte Sports venues completed in 2014 2014 FIFA World Cup stadiums Arena das Dunas Sports venues in Rio Grande do Norte 2014 establishments in Brazil {{Brazil-sports-venue-stub