Four cities in the Serra Gaúcha region will host national teams.

Felipe Prestes, South21 - The World Cup qualifiers are still taking place around the world, and few teams have qualified. Even so, there's already a race among cities throughout Brazil to find the likely teams that will be here in 2014. Last week, for example, a delegation from the Gramado city hall began a visit to the seven South American countries that have a chance of qualifying for the tournament (Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Uruguay, and Venezuela). "They were very well received. We are very optimistic," says Mayor Nestor Tissot.

Gramado is among the dozens of cities that have had training centers accredited by FIIFA. Composed of a training facility and a hotel, these centers are the places the organization recommends for national teams to stay during their preparation for and during the tournament. In Rio Grande do Sul, nine cities passed the scrutiny of the World Cup organization. In addition to Gramado, three other cities are located in the Serra region: Bento Gonçalves, Caxias do Sul, and Farroupilha.

The mayor of Gramado believes that the city's exposure during a national team's training sessions in the World Cup would give it unparalleled visibility. "Having the national team here would be free worldwide exposure, so to speak. Even if we spent the entire annual city budget, we couldn't afford that much publicity. A national team in Gramado would be the crowning achievement of 50 years of the city's work in tourism," he states.

To attract the attention that a team competing in the World Cup would bring, Gramado is carrying out works at the Várzea Grande Olympic Village, which will have stands with a capacity to accommodate up to 1030 people, and will include changing rooms, a bar and restaurant, a meeting room, and a briefing room. For this, the city obtained R$ 1,5 million from the Ministry of Sport and invested an additional R$ 500 of its own resources. "We are competing against larger cities with more economic power, but, in the worst-case scenario, we will have the legacy of a sports and leisure center for the city with federal resources," says Nestor Tissot.

Furthermore, the city, which is one of the main tourist destinations in Rio Grande do Sul, hopes to attract tourists even if it doesn't host any national team, with an influx of tourists who will be attending matches in Porto Alegre. "Regardless of whether there's a national team here, the public that goes to the games in Porto Alegre will certainly come to the Serra region. We are working with travel agencies and tour operators to facilitate this," says the mayor.

"Even without a national team, we will already have an important legacy."
In Bento Gonçalves, the FIFA catalog lists the Montanha dos Vinhedos Stadium and two hotels: the Spa do Vinho and Dall'Onder hotels. This is because the latter is paired with the Estádio das Castanheiras, in the neighboring municipality of Farroupilha.

The City Hall of Bento Gonçalves has secured approval for a R$ 2 million project to improve the Montanha dos Vinhedos (Wine Mountains) area. The works include a press room, changing rooms, a physiotherapy room, a gym, a VIP box, lighting, irrigation and drainage systems, parking, and accessibility improvements.

Regarding city promotion, the consulting firm Cartan, from the United States, was hired; they have worked on various events worldwide. Approximately 200 people are also being trained in language courses through the Pronatec Copa and Pronatec Copa na Empresa programs. The City Hall is assisting bars and restaurants in having menus in other languages.

Bento Gonçalves has already received visits from four countries: Germany, Japan, Norway, and Russia. Russia returned with the national team coach himself, Fabio Capello. "Many countries are still participating in the qualifiers. Expectations are good, we are optimistic," says the Secretary of Tourism, Gilberto Durante.

He emphasizes that even if a national team doesn't go to the city, the benefits of the World Cup will have already materialized. "Regardless of whether or not we have a national team here in Bento, we already consider the result in terms of legacy very important: an investment of R$2 million in the stadium, training for those involved in tourism, improvements in tourist signage, etc. But the biggest advance is the international promotion that we are having the opportunity to have, not only for Bento Gonçalves, but for Rio Grande do Sul and Brazil as a whole."

"A unique promotional opportunity for our wines and furniture," he says. One achievement that Durante celebrates is the selection of the Lidio Carror Boutique Winery of Bento Gonçalves as the official wine supplier for the 2014 World Cup, announced a few days ago.

Farroupilha will receive investments in its stadium and signage.
The municipality of Farroupilha is not far behind in its search for a team to train at the Estádio das Castanheiras, as acknowledged by its Secretary of Tourism, Fabiano Piccoli, who criticizes the previous administration. "Farroupilha hadn't done much until last year. There wasn't even a management committee, which we formed, with the participation of members from the municipality, the private sector, and Brasil de Farroupilha, the club that holds the concession for the stadium (which is municipal)," he says.

According to Piccoli, the first measures this year were the production of trilingual material about the city, which will be sent to the embassies and football federations of all countries with a good chance of qualifying for the World Cup. Also in terms of promotion, the City Hall plans a trip to South American countries and participation in Soccerx, a global football convention, which will take place in November in Rio de Janeiro.

For the Castanheiras Stadium, the city secured R$ 800 from the Ministry of Sports for renovations. Funding was obtained from the State Government for improving tourist signage. Through the Pronatec Copa program, English courses are being offered to workers in the municipality.

The secretary emphasizes that, even if the city is not chosen, it should benefit from the selection of neighboring cities, such as Bento Gonçalves and Caxias do Sul. "We know how difficult it is to get selected, but we want to prepare the city considering the regional context, mobilizing commerce and the population," says Piccoli.

Caxias do Sul, the main city in the region, had two centers chosen, thanks to the stadiums of Caxias (Francisco Stédile) and Juventude (Alfredo Jaconi), which applied, respectively, as did the Intercity Premium and Samuara hotels. The Caxias do Sul Regional Airport Hugo Cartergiani also weighs in favor of the city.

Last week, the state secretary of Sport and Leisure, Kalil Sehbe, gave a speech in the city and highlighted the fact that Caxias has two accredited training centers. He also emphasized investments totaling R$ 3 million from the State Government in sports in the city, part of which went towards the construction of a multi-sports gymnasium in the North Zone Sports Complex, benefiting more than 70 people.

Sul21 was unable to speak with any spokesperson for the city's mayor's office before this article was published.