FIFA has confirmed the World Cup 2014 match schedule in Brazil with the tournament hosts playing the opening match in Sao Paulo.
The 20th edition of the World Cup will begin on June 12, 2014 with the opening match kicking off at 5pm local time.
The final will be held at the Maracana stadium in Rio de Janeiro on July 13.
All 64 games will be played across 12 cities in Brazil. The host nation has won the trophy more than any other country with five titles to their name.
Italy, who hope to qualify for the tournament, have won it four times.
Current champions Spain won the trophy last year when they beat the Netherlands in the South Africa final.
Meanwhile, FIFA’s Executive Committee has agreed to meet and discuss affairs regarding the intent to stay united, while pushing forward new proposals, which will be presented by president Sepp Blatter.
The 75-year-old has already outlined some of his potential plans, including granting all 206 FIFA member countries a say on future World Cup hosts – a stark change from just the 25-man Executive Committee board.
Blatter is also believed to have formulated plans on reforming the organisation directly, with a major overhaul of their current Ethics Committee in the pipeline.
The plan will see FIFA members have corruption checks performed in order to take a seat in the committee, while more power will be given to them collectively.
The proposals have been met with approval from vice-president Jim Boyce, who has underlined the governing body’s need to restore its reputation after a turbulent past 12 months, which saw allegations of corruption hit the organisation hard.
”It is the first FIFA Executive Committee meeting that I will be attending and I am very much looking forward to hearing of the measures that the president will announce, some of which he has already started putting in place, to make sure that FIFA restores its reputation throughout the world after the adverse publicity of the last 12 months,” Boyce told The Daily Telegraph.
”I believe that everyone in Europe at least will be singing from the same hymn sheet,” he continued.
“The European FIFA members I have spoken to, and the UEFA Executive Committee members, are all of the same view as me that we want to ensure that FIFA moves forward in the right way.”
