Wimbledon to tennis, Madison Square Garden to basketball, Maracanã to soccer. An extremely exciting experience. Est. Total Time (T): 4h Est. Total Cost (C): R$ 60 Best on: Sundays

Maracanã, still the world’s largest stadium, officially capable of holding 120,000 people, yet it has seen over 180,000 at some popular soccer finals.

Soccer Game
As soon as you get to Rio, ask around to see if there is a game going on and if it will be good: meaning big teams or championship finals. This will be an experience like you never had. Needless to say, the average IQ at any moment is below 60 (group average or cumulative), so don’t look forward to a “good-ol British soccer riot”.

Breakfast

First you will need a strong breakfast. It may include beer, since you will be pounding them in the next 30 minutes.

Tailgating

After the good boys from Brazil Expedition pick you up from your hotel, you’ll be taken to outside the stadium where you should get yourself a T-shirt of the team you will be rooting for (Flamengo, Botafogo, Fluminense and Vasco are the better two from Rio). Try the food vendors, even the fillet-meow, possibly made from street cats. The air is charged, as enthusiasm and hope are conjured on both sides.

Maracanâ

Once inside, you’ll experience Rio at its most religious: 100K+ people individually stopping to whole-heartedly pray for their teams. Moments after “Amen”, you’ll be playing “simon says” for the next two hours: a little guy acting like a maestro sitting all the way down there will be showing 10,000 fans what to do, sing and shout. This is called an “organized fanhood” since that faction of fans all have their chants, stadium sized flags and sneaked-in fireworks. The most common chants involve the judge’s ass or mother. Once a goal is scored everyone gets an orgasm and the chants get re-energized. If you see the beer vendor, get 2 as they are scarce. After the game, stick together to go home.

To go with safe guides and a large group of young travellers (great mingling), call these guys.