ZURICH/BRASILIA: The ball for the 2014 World Cup will be called the Brazuca by sponsors and manufacturers Adidas after a nationwide competition run by the Local Organising Committee writes KEIR RADNEDGE.

More than one million Brazilian fans voted in the past three weeks and the winning label achieved 70 per cent of the vote.

Adidas, World Cup ball supplier since 1970, said it “took inspiration from elements of Brazilian culture” in coming up with a shortlist of three which also included Bossa Nova and Carnavalesca.

Fan polls have used previously to choose the name of football competition mascots but this was the first time the concept had been used to name the World Cup ball.

FIFA secretary-general Jerome Valcke – able to tick off another step along the way to 2014 – said: “I’m sure that the Brazuca will go down in history together with other iconic FIFA World Cup balls, such as the Tango in Argentina in 1978 and the Azteca in Mexico in 1986.”

The informal term “brazuca” is used by Brazilians to describe national pride in the Brazilian way of life.

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