It's one of the most iconic stadiums in world soccer, and it's current state is simply sad. The beautiful Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro is anything but beautiful these days.

The stadium has gone from delight to almost a dump because of a lack of maintenance, and it's bad news for soccer fans all over the world.

Maracana is known as Brazil's best, most beautiful stadium. Located in arguably the most soccer crazy country in the world, it hosted the match that decided the 1950 World Cup between Brazil and Uruguay, with a reported record capacity of 199,854. Uruguay won in one of the biggest upsets in World Cup history, and the stadium has hosted many more matches, international and domestic.

The stadium is owned by the Rio de Janeiro state government and was renovated between 2010-13 in preparation for the 2013 Confederations Cup, the 2014 FIFA World Cup and the 2016 Olympics. Maracana was the home of the final for all three soccer tournaments and for the opening and closing ceremonies of the Summer Games.

According to Globo in Brazil, the stadium has been abandoned and ransacked since its last official event in September. How bad has it gotten? Well, the stadium lights are off at night to save costs, the field is in awful condition. As a result, things like stadium seats, television monitors and busts from statues have been stolen overnight.

Take a look.

That's heartbreaking, considering Maracana played host to a charity match by soccer legend Zico at the end of 2016 where the proceeds went towards the victims of the horrific Chapecoense plane tragedy. From the image below, things looked fine during the charity match.

But things are far from fine. How has the stadium turned into a potential white elephant venue in a span of weeks? The company in charge of maintenance has refused to take care of it, per Globo, adding that the company blames Olympic organizers for not complying with terms of an agreement over the maintenance of the stadium and are at a standoff over the issue.

Let's hope a solution is found to keep this venue up and running, because few stadiums mean more to the sport and its history than this one.

On Tuesday according to Reuters, Rio authorities called for urgent action to stop the looting of items from the stadium. Hopefully that is the first step in returning the stadium to glory.

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