Workers were still finishing building a stadium wall, and ticket offices, turnstiles and gates were not working, said another paper, the Folha de Sao Paulo.

BBC: 'Problems' as Maracana stadium reopens in Rio

Folha de Sao Paulo, a newspaper that sometimes speaks for the city's industrialists, this week called for exchange controls which President Fernando Henrique Cardoso has firmly ruled out (as he once did devaluation).

ECONOMIST: Brazil

But in a statement quoted by the Folha de Sao Paulo, the Rio de Janeiro state government pointed out that this was a test event, using only 30% of the stadium's full capacity, and did not represent the full reopening.

BBC: 'Problems' as Maracana stadium reopens in Rio

"What we consider serious in this context is the 'educational', or rather, the 'diseducational' power that an important body such as the Federal Council of Medicine has - the power to create mentalities, " Bishop Joao Carlos Petrini, from the powerful National Conference of Bishops, told newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo.

BBC: Brazil doctors' council backs abortion reform