Arena PE wins dispute with Arruda and will host a friendly match with the Women’s National Team

The look of Arena Pernambuco during the 2024 State Championship. Photo: Danillo Conzz/Arena PE.

The Brazilian Women’s Team will play two friendlies in the Northeast in June. Two duels against Jamaica, on the 1st in Pernambuco and on the 4th in Bahia, finalizing the preparation for the Paris Olympics, which will take place between July and August. Regarding the first match, the intention of the president of the FPF, Evandro Carvalho, was to hold the friendly match in Arruda, with the ticket proceeds going to Santa Cruz. However, the tricolor stadium ended up being passed over by the CBF. The friendly was announced on April 26, but the definition of the stadium only came the following week, with the change of address in Greater Recife.

On the afternoon of May 3, the federation representative acknowledged, in an interview with Rádio Clube, the difficulty of opting for Arruda due to the structural issue. Even though this was obvious, there was a plan to get around it by June. But it didn’t pass the inspection. At night, the official profile of the arena in São Lourenço confirmed the choice. Thus, Arena Pernambuco will host the women’s team for the first time. Considering other categories of the Brazilian team, this will be the 4th game of the national team in the multipurpose arena. Previously, there were two games for the Men’s National Team (a 2-2 draw with Uruguay in 2016, and a 2-0 victory over Peru in 2021) and one for the Men’s Olympic Team (a 3-2 defeat to Japan, in 2019).

Arruda has not hosted national team games since 2012

As for Arruda, once the “Home of the National Team” in the state, it has been on hiatus since 2012. It has been twelve years since the last match of some version of the Brazilian National Team there. On that occasion, it was a friendly match for the men’s team, which beat China 8 x 0. Interestingly, the women’s team’s last game in PE had been in Arruda, in 2011. In a friendly match against the Pernambucana team, Brazil won 4 x 1, with two goals from Rainha Marta.

In total, Pernambuco will host the Seleção for the 32nd time, in a history that began 90 years ago, in 1934. Already counting this friendly in 2024, there are 19 matches for the men’s team, 10 for the men’s Olympic team and 3 for the women’s. Considering the entire Northeast, Brazil has already played 94 games in 18 different stadiums. There were 65 from the men’s team, 19 from the Olympic team and 10 from the women’s team. Below, the ranking of stadiums that hosted the most green and yellow teams in their main versions. The 95th game would be an extension of Arruda’s record, which totals 18 games. The change made Arena Pernambuco rise to 9th place, tying with Ilha do Retiro. In time: the 96th game in the region, which will be in Bahia, still does not have a confirmed stadium.

Stadiums that hosted Brazilian teams

1st) 18 games – Arruda (Recife-PE)
2nd) 16 games – Fonte Nova (Salvador-BA)
3rd) 11 games – Castelão (Fortaleza-CE)
4th) 6 games – Graça* (Salvador-BA) and Rei Pelé (Maceió-AL)
6th) 5 games – Arena das Dunas (Natal-RN), Avenida Malaquias* (Recife-PE) and Castelão (São Luís-MA)
9th) 4 games – Arena Pernambuco (São Lourenço-PE)** and Ilha do Retiro (Recife-PE)
11th) 3 games – Albertão (Teresina-PI) and Machadão* (Natal-RN)
13th) 2 games – Almeidão (João Pessoa-PB), Amigão (Campina Grande-PB) and Batistão (Aracaju-SE)
16th) 1 game – Aflitos (Recife-PE), Pituaçu (Salvador-BA) and Presidente Vargas (Fortaleza-CE)
* Extinct fields; **Already considering the game on June 1st

Distribution of the National Team’s games in Pernambuco

Rue: 18 games (10 main games, 7 Olympic games and 1 women’s game)
Malaquias Avenue: 5 games (5 main games)*
Retiro Island: 4 games (2 main, 1 Olympic and 1 women’s)
Arena Pernambuco: 4 games (2 main, 1 Olympic and 1 women’s)**
Afflicted: 1 game (1 Olympic)
* Extinct field; **Already considering the game on June 1st

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The Brazilian team has already played 94 games in the Northeast, including men’s and women’s teams; look

Below, see the video from Arena PE management confirming the Women’s Team friendly match.