The IBC of the World Cup opens in Rio

The IBC, which extends over 55,000 m2, functions as a media village, with studios, electricity, telecommunications, shops, lounges and restaurants to meet the needs of thousands of broadcasters' workers around the planet.

The Secretary General of FIFA, Jérôme Valcke, and the Executive Secretary of the Brazilian Ministry of Sports, Luis Fernandes, inaugurated this week the International Communications Center (IBC) for the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil.

The IBC, located at the Riocentro complex in Rio de Janeiro, is the nerve center for television production of FIFA Brazil 2014, providing billions of fans around the world with all the action and excitement of the world's largest single-sports event. More than three billion people watched coverage of South Africa 2010.

“This is our link to the world,” Valcke told reporters at the opening ceremony. “From here, everyone will be connected to the World Cup.”

In this crucial event on the road to the World Cup, Valcke and Fernandes were accompanied by the Governor of the state of Rio de Janeiro, Luiz Fernando Pezão, the Mayor of Rio de Janeiro, Eduardo Paes, the Executive Secretary of the Ministry of Communications, Genildo Lins, the Director of FIFA TV, Niclas Ericson, and the CEO of the Local Organizing Committee of the 2014 FIFA World Cup, Ricardo Trade.

The IBC is the center that helps make the FIFA World Cup a truly global competition. FIFA invests in the competition's audiovisual production to ensure that audiences everywhere can enjoy the best sports coverage, from the latest visual technology to a wide range of multimedia offerings.

A global competition

For all 64 matches at Brazil 2014, FIFA TV production teams will broadcast images to the IBC, from where audiovisual material will be provided to FIFA broadcast rights licensees for broadcast in all territories.

The creation of the IBC has led to important improvements in connectivity throughout Brazil within a general improvement of infrastructure for the Brazilian economy; including fiber optic links throughout the Amazon region. “This is an important part of the World Cup legacy,” Fernandes said.

The IBC, which extends over 55,000 m2, functions as a media village, with studios, electricity, telecommunications, shops, lounges and restaurants to meet the needs of thousands of broadcast workers around the planet. “Thanks to the IBC, the images of the World Cup will reach half of the world's population,” highlighted Fernandes.

In the facilities there are 17 television studios for broadcast rights licensees (MRL) with up to 400 m2, work spaces for 86 MRLs, more than 100 kilometers of primary and secondary electrical wiring, 350 40-inch HD screens and a 6,000 m² satellite communications facility in a structure that took five months to assemble. After the final, it will take seven weeks to dismantle the entire facility.