World Cup at Circuito Liberdade: where to watch, take the kids, and learn about the history of football.

The World Cup, which begins this Thursday (June 11th), will be celebrated in venues within the Circuito Liberdade (Freedom Circuit) with free broadcasts of games and associated activities. At Cine Belas Artes, the public can watch the Brazilian national team's matches; at Mercado Central (Central Market), other matches, in addition to the national ones, will be projected on a large screen. Furthermore, the Market will maintain the Panini Space during this period, for the exchange and sale of World Cup sticker album stickers. Free exhibitions at the Minas Gerais State Public Library and activities for children at the Toy Museum are also associated with the biggest football celebration in the world, with tickets at R$20 for half-price and available for purchase directly at the venue's box office. Details of the program can be found at circuitoliberdade.com.br.

At Cine Belas Artes, a street cinema that has brought the diversity of world cinema to Belo Horizonte for decades, the big screen will show the Brazilian national team's matches in the first phase of the World Cup. The group stage matches will be shown in Room 1, which has 140 seats. On Saturday (June 13th), at 7 PM, the first broadcast will take place, featuring the match between Brazil and Morocco. Then, on Friday (June 19th), the match against Haiti will be held at 9:30 PM. And in the last match of the round, the team plays against Scotland at 7 PM on Wednesday (June 24th). As the Brazilian team progresses, the cinema will continue showing the matches. Tickets are available free of charge at the cinema box office, always starting one hour before the games.

Matches and Panini Space — The Central Market will broadcast all World Cup matches, except those scheduled for 9 PM. With free entry and bar service, Cultural Space 2, in the Market's parking lot, welcomes football fans. Part of the Circuito Liberdade (Liberty Circuit), it also hosts the Panini Space, where the public can exchange and buy stickers, purchase the official album, and other licensed products — an ideal environment for interaction among collectors. The Panini Space is open from Thursday to Saturday, from 8 AM to 6 PM, and on Sundays from 8 AM to 1 PM.

Exhibitions and Children's Audience — The Minas Gerais State Public Library invites the public to delve into the history of the World Cups and Brazilian football. In three exhibitions, which utilize books, newspapers, magazines, and materials from the collection, visitors learn and activate memories of the great moments in the world's most popular sport. “Football: a universal language that unites peoples” proposes a reflection on this sport as a language capable of transcending borders, cultures, and languages. The exhibition is open until July 30th, from 9 am to 6 pm. “A Goal of Stories” will be inaugurated on Wednesday (June 10th) and is aimed at children and young people, encouraging reading through football stories. The exhibition will be on display until July 31st, also from 9 am to 6 pm.

Closing the exhibitions, “World Cups”, organized by the Historical Newspaper Archive Sector, will open on Thursday (June 11th) and run until July 31st, with visiting hours from 9 am to 5 pm. The exhibition brings together a special selection of Brazilian newspapers and magazines that have recorded, over the decades, significant moments of the World Cups. Historical reports, emblematic covers, and iconographic records reveal how the press followed and helped build the sporting and cultural memory of Brazil. All the World Cup attractions at the Minas Gerais State Public Library are free.

Playing at the World Cup — During Saturdays in June, the Toy Museum offers children and their families games themed around the great national sport. In the toy exhibition with a special dynamic, “Clues, Toys and Balls Around the World,” children will, through clues, riddles, and challenges, discover toys and games that are very popular in different countries participating in the World Cup. In “Balls, Goals and Football of the World,” children can learn about games, forms of football, and physical games present in indigenous communities, valuing the diversity of ways to play.

With the “World Cup Yo-yo” workshop, children will build a World Cup-themed yo-yo using recycled materials. And with “Little Football Field,” they will be invited to build their own little football field, also made from recycled materials. Each participant can create the pitch, the players, the goals, the stands, the fans, the flags, and the details of their small stadium. In addition to creativity, the public can have fun with ready-made and traditional toys, such as nail football, foosball, and table football.

The Museum also promotes a "bafão" (a game similar to table football) championship with all those present who wish to participate. The proposal will be conducted in a playful, light and inclusive way, with rules agreed upon collectively and a focus on fun, without inciting competition between children. The only free access space in the Toy Museum's program, the "Quintal das Figurinhas" (Sticker Yard), opens to the general public, even non-visitors, in a space for exchanging stickers for the competition.

Finally, the "Show de Embaixadinhas" (Juggling Show) encourages everyone present to perform, with total freedom of style, one of the most playful movements in the relationship with the ball: juggling. This is the only attraction at the Toy Museum with fixed hours, from 11:30 am to 3:30 pm. The remaining events occur simultaneously, during the two operating shifts of the space, from 9:30 am to 12:30 pm and from 2 pm to 5 pm. The space is subject to capacity limits.