But in Brazil, where economic issues are so divisive, recent estimates that about 6.4 billion reais of public money will be used to finance the World Cup have made the white elephant discussions more heated. In Manaus, for example, most of the pro teams are in the fourth division of Brazil’s national league. A game last month involving one of the teams, Nacional, drew a little more than 1,000 fans to a tiny stadium in the eastern part of the city. With capacity at the World Cup stadium set to be about 42,000, concerns linger over how necessary the project is.

“The stadiums in Manaus, Cuiaba and Natal — they are absurd,” Romário, a former Brazilian national team star who is now a member of the Brazilian Congress, said in an interview. “There will be a couple games there and then what? Who will go? It is an absolute waste of time and money.”

Organizers challenge that thinking, highlighting the stadium’s multipurpose design and saying there are a number of options for post-World Cup events. Environmentally friendly features like harvesting rainwater to use in the stadium’s toilets make the stadium sustainable, the designers said, and concerts and other exhibitions are among the possibilities raised for future use.

Local officials are also quick to note the exposure the World Cup will bring to the Amazon region, as Manaus is often used by tourists solely as a starting (or returning) point for forays into the rain forest. While certainly isolated, Manaus is hardly antiquated; the city has a population of about two million and a growing economy that includes electronics, chemical and oil companies. The Free Economic Zone of Manaus is also a significant industrial hub.

From a helicopter, this Amazonian city is a parade of stunning sights. Out in the river, there is the famous Meeting of the Waters, the phenomenon where the Rio Negro and the Rio Solimões rub up against each other but do not mix. Along the banks, jungle lodges are carved snug against the forest. In the port, ships hauling sugar, fish, bananas and watermelons weave in and out of the docks.

“I think people would be surprised by what’s here and what the people here do,” said Harold M. Wright, the director of the international relations office at the University of the State of Amazonas. “Having the stadium is important to this city. There’s also a lot more passion for football here than people realize.”

Vanessa Silva, 23, is involved with one of the fan clubs of Nacional. She joined the raucous cheers last month during a 5-2 victory over Genus, another Amazonian team, and said that most of her contemporaries supported the building of the stadium.