Confederations Cup venues announced

Brazil has revealed the venues for the 2013 Confederations Cup, the now traditional warm-up for the following season's World Cup Finals.

The six stadia for the eight-team competition are as follows:

Belo Horizonte (Mineirao) - 70,000

Brasilia (Nacional) - 71,500

Fortaleza (Castelao) - 67,000

Recife (Pernambuco) - 44,000

Rio (Maracana) - 76,500

Salvador (Fonte Nova) - 56,500

The tournament, which will take place between the 15th and 30th of June 2013, has five of the eight finalists confirmed already.

Qualifiers:

BRAZIL (hosts)

SPAIN (World Cup holders)

URUGUAY (Copa America holders) 

MEXICO (Gold Cup holders)

JAPAN (Asian Cup holders)

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UEFA European champions (June 2012)

Oceania OFC Nations Cup winner (June 2012)

AFC African champions (Jan/Feb 2013)

Brazil will kick-off in the nation's capital Brasilia on the 15th of June next year before playing their other group games in Fortaleza and Salvador. The final is in the Maracana on the 30th.

The finals draw takes place in Sao Paulo on the 24th of November this year.

The seleçao will be going for a hat-trick of Confederations Cups, having won the 2005 edition in Germany, beating Argentina 4-1 in the final, and the 2009 tournament in South Africa, coming from 2-0 down to beat the USA 3-2.




-Sean O'Conor & Soccerphile

Tags

Euro 2012 football