The Adidas Brazuca () was the official match ball of the

2014 FIFA World Cup The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for list of men's national association football teams, men's national Association football, football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil fr ...

, which was held in

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

. It was designed by the company

Adidas Adidas AG (; stylized in all lowercase since 1949) is a German athletic apparel and footwear corporation headquartered in Herzogenaurach, Bavaria, Germany. It is the largest sportswear manufacturer in Europe, and the second largest in the ...

, a

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

Partner and

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official match ball supplier since 1970.

Naming

The name of the ball was announced on 2 September 2012. It was selected by a public vote organised by the Local Organising Committee and Adidas, with over one million Brazilian football fans voting. The name ''Brazuca'' was chosen with 77.8% of the vote. The two other voting options were '' Bossa Nova'' (14.6% of the vote) and '' Carnavalesca'' (7.6% of the vote). According to FIFA, "the informal term 'brazuca' (our fellow) is used by Brazilians to describe national pride in the Brazilian way of life", and "mirroring their approach to football, it symbolises emotion, pride and goodwill to all". The term is also used as slang for "Brazilian" and became well-known abroad due to the

Brazilian diaspora The Brazilian diaspora is the migration of Brazilian people, Brazilians to other countries, a mostly recent phenomenon that has been driven mainly by economic recession and hyperinflation that afflicted Brazil in the 1980s and early 1990s, and si ...

Technical aspects

The ball is a developmental successor to the Adidas Tango 12 series of balls, with the same bladder and carcass but a different surface structure. The ball weighs 437 grams and has a circumference of 69 centimetres. The ball has been made of six polyurethane panels which have been thermally bonded; the reduction in the number of panels is claimed to increase the consistency in the ball. The Brazuca ball has been stated to avoid aerodynamic problems with the Jabulani ball used in South Africa for the previous World Cup. It is textured to feel more like the Adidas Finale 13, the official UEFA Champions League ball, than the Jabulani.

Design

The ball has a multi-colour design referenced from the traditional wish bracelet to represent Brazil. The colours used in the match balls are blue, green, red, white and black.

Final match – Brazuca Final Rio

The match ball for the

2014 FIFA World Cup Final The 2014 FIFA World Cup final was the final match of the 2014 FIFA World Cup, 2014 World Cup, the 20th edition of FIFA's competition for national association football, football teams. The match was played at the Maracanã Stadium in Rio de Janei ...

, announced on 29 May 2014, featured a variation of the Adidas Brazuca named the ''Adidas Brazuca Final Rio''. Whilst the technical aspects of the ball are the same, the colour is different from the Brazuca balls used in the group stages and other playoffs, with a green, gold and black colouring. It is the third special ball for FIFA World Cup final matches, after the +Teamgeist Berlin (

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

) and the Jo'bulani (

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Testing

The Brazuca went through an extensive testing process before its use at the World Cup. Adidas had been developing the ball for over 2 years, and had worked with many teams and players to ensure the ball was acceptable. The ball has appeared in the

FIFA U-20 World Cup The FIFA U-20 World Cup is the biennial football world championship tournament for FIFA members' men's national teams with players under the age of 20. The competition has been staged every two years since the inaugural tournament in 1977 when i ...

DFB-Pokal The DFB-Pokal (), also known as the German Cup in English language, English, is a German knockout Association football, football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competiti ...

final as well as disguised as the Adidas Cafusa in international friendly matches. Each team participating in the World Cup finals were delivered a set of Brazuca balls after the unveiling in December 2013 to have sufficient time to practice with it.

Production

The original Brazuca balls for the World Cup finals were contract manufactured in Pakistan, however bona fide replica balls are made in both China and Pakistan.

Taipei , nickname = The City of Azaleas , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Taiwan#Asia#Pacific Ocean#Earth , coordinates = , subdivision_type = Country ...

-based Long Way Enterprise were originally asked to manufacture the ball in their subsidiary YaYork Plastic Products in

Shenzhen Shenzhen is a prefecture-level city in the province of Guangdong, China. A Special economic zones of China, special economic zone, it is located on the east bank of the Pearl River (China), Pearl River estuary on the central coast of Guangdong ...

Guangdong ) means "wide" or "vast", and has been associated with the region since the creation of Guang Prefecture in AD 226. The name "''Guang''" ultimately came from Guangxin ( zh, labels=no, first=t, t= , s=广信), an outpost established in Han dynasty ...

province,

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. The company has been associated with production of Adidas balls since 1997. Long Way, however, was unable to meet the high demand for the ball. A second supplier, Forward Sports (based in

Sialkot Sialkot (Punjabi language, Punjabi, ) is a city located in Punjab, Pakistan. It is the capital of the Sialkot District and the List of most populous cities in Pakistan, 12th most populous city in Pakistan. The boundaries of Sialkot are joined ...

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), was brought in to help manufacture the ball. Forward Sports, who have been associated with Adidas since 1995 and already supplied footballs for both the

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and the German

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

, were awarded the contract by Adidas at short notice after the original manufacturer in China failed to meet the demand . Over 42 million Brazuca balls were exported from Sialkot. Each ball is expected to be sold for around US$160.

Unveiling

Adidas unveiled the Brazuca at a launch event on 3 December 2013, two days ahead of the traditional unveiling of the World Cup match ball at the draw of the group stages of the World Cup Final. The launch event took place in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

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and featured a 3D light projection, which revealed the Brazuca to everyone in attendance. On 7 December 2013,

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...

announced a FIFA-approved version of the Brazuca as the official match ball for the league's 2014 season.

Usage of the same or similar ball around the world

''The following competition used Brazuca ball which was also used in the World Cup, unless named different.''

AFC

* : 2014 K League Classic

UEFA

* :

2014–15 UEFA Europa League The 2014–15 UEFA Europa League was the 44th season of Europe's secondary club association football, football tournament organised by UEFA, and the sixth season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League. The 2015 UEFA Eur ...

(''Adidas Europa League 2014/15'') * :

2014–15 Ligue 1 The 2014–15 Ligue 1 season was the 77th season since its establishment. Paris Saint-Germain were the two-time defending champions and successfully defended their title. Teams There were 20 clubs in the league, with three promoted teams from L ...

(''Adidas Pro Ligue 1 2014'') * :

2014–15 Bundesliga The 2014–15 Bundesliga was the 52nd season of the Bundesliga, Germany's premier association football, football competition. The season started on 22 August 2014 and the final matchday took place on 23 May 2015. FC Bayern Munich, Bayern Munich w ...

(''Adidas Torfabrik 2014'') * :

2014–15 Ekstraklasa The 2014–15 Ekstraklasa (also known as T-Mobile Ekstraklasa due to its Sponsor (commercial), sponsorship by T-Mobile Polska) was the 81st season of Sports league, the highest level of football leagues in the Polish football league system since ...

* : 2014–15 Primeira Liga * :

2013–14 Copa del Rey The 2013–14 Copa del Rey was the 112th staging of the Copa del Rey (including two seasons where two rival editions were played). The competition began on 4 September 2013 and ended on 16 April 2014 with the final. The 2014 Copa del Rey Final, fi ...

CONMEBOL

* : 2013–14 Argentine Primera División (Torneo Final) and

2014 Argentine Primera División The 2014 Torneo de Transición or Torneo Doctor Ramón Carrillo was the 124th season of top-flight professional football in Argentina. The season was scheduled to start on August 1, 2014 but was postponed after the death of Julio Grondona, pre ...

(''Adidas Argentum'')

CONCACAF

* : 2014 Major League Soccer (''Adidas Prime 3'')

Scottish Premiership

* :

2013–14 Scottish Premiership The 2013–14 Scottish Premiership was the first season of the Scottish Premiership, the highest division of Scottish football. The season began on 2 August 2013 and concluded on 11 May 2014. This was the first season of the competition being p ...

("Adidas Unknown Orange")

References

External links

Official website
(Archive, 16 Dec 2014) {{FIFA World Cup official match balls Brazuca 2014 FIFA World Cup Goods manufactured in Pakistan Products introduced in 2012 FIFA World Cup balls