And they’re off! The whistle has blown and the first match of the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil is underway, with the host nation taking on Croatia, at Arena Corinthians, in São Paulo. For the next month the eyes of the world will be on Brazil, as the top 32 footballing nations compete for the right to be called the best on the planet.

In Rio de Janeiro, the nation’s passion for sport has coloured the city green and yellow, as you can see in our photo gallery below. Rio will be joined by 11 other Brazilian cities in hosting the world: Brasília, Belo Horizonte, Cuiabá, Curitiba, Fortaleza, Manaus, Natal, Porto Alegre, Recife, Salvador and São Paulo.

The legendary Maracanã Stadium –  which will host the opening and closing ceremonies and football tournament during the Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games –  will stage the FIFA World Cup matches in Rio de Janeiro, including the final. It will be the second time it has hosted the event, having been built for the 1950 World Cup. The Maraca, as it is known locally, will also host four group stage games, a round of 16 match and one quarter-final.

Some of the greatest players in the world – such as Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal), Lionel Messi (Argentina), Neymar (Brazil), Andrés Iniesta (Spain), Mesut Ozil (Germany) and Mario Balotelli (Italy) – will be out to leave their mark on arguably the most famous stadium in the world in the final on July 13.

Brazil is hoping to claim an unprecedented sixth world title. Having impressed in winning last year’s FIFA Confederations Cup in Brazil, hopes are high the ‘Samba Boys’ can add to the titles they won in 1958, 1962, 1970, 1994 and 2002.

As is tradition in Brazil, the streets of Rio have been decorated by local residents and are populated by excited locals and visitors from abroad. Even the Christ the Redeemer statue, the city’s most famous landmark, has been lit up in the colours of all 32 nations who will contest the World Cup. See how the ‘Marvellous City’ has been gripped by World Cup fever in the photo gallery below: