Fuleco () was the official mascot 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 ...

, hosted 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 ...

. Fuleco is a Brazilian three-banded armadillo, a species of

armadillo Armadillos () are New World placental mammals in the order (biology), order Cingulata. They form part of the superorder Xenarthra, along with the anteaters and sloths. 21 extant species of armadillo have been described, some of which are dis ...

which is native to Brazil and categorized as a

vulnerable species A vulnerable species is a species which has been Conservation status, categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as being threatened species, threatened with extinction unless the circumstances that are threatened species, ...

on the

IUCN Red List The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is an inventory of the global conservation status and extinction risk of biological ...

. Fuleco was officially launched as part of Brazilian broadcaster

TV Globo TV Globo (stylized as tvglobo; , ), formerly known as Rede Globo de Televisão (; shortened to Rede Globo) or simply known as Globo, is a Brazilian free-to-air Television broadcasting, television network, launched by media proprietor Roberto M ...

's weekly '' Fantástico'' entertainment show on 25 November 2012. His name is a

portmanteau In linguistics, a blend—also known as a blend word, lexical blend, or portmanteau—is a word formed by combining the meanings, and parts of the sounds, of two or more words together.

of the Portuguese words ''futebol'' ("football") and ''ecologia'' ("ecology"). The mascot, with his message of environmental concerns, ecology and sport, turned out to be very popular with football teams around the world.Fuleco wins name game
FIFA.com. Retrieved 12 January 2013
FIFA.com. Retrieved 12 January 2013
FIFA.com. Retrieved 12 January 2013
Uol Copa 2014 (''In Portuguese''). Retrieved 12 January 2012

Creation and design

Fuleco's birthday coincides with

New Year's Day In the Gregorian calendar, New Year's Day is the first day of the calendar year, January 1, 1 January. Most solar calendars, such as the Gregorian and Julian calendars, begin the year regularly at or near the December solstice, northern winter ...

. He is a Brazilian three-banded armadillo, which is an

endangered species An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching, inv ...

, and plays a major part in the environmental drive. Over 90% of Brazilians believe Brazil 2014 should be

environmentally friendly Environment friendly processes, or environmental-friendly processes (also referred to as eco-friendly, nature-friendly, and green), are sustainability and marketing terms referring to goods and services, laws, guidelines and policies that c ...

. The name Fuleco was chosen over the names Amijubi (''Amizade'' – "Friendship" and ''Júbilo'' – "Joy") and Zuzeco (''Azul'' – "Blue" and ''Ecologia'' – "Ecology") by more than 1.7 million football fans. Fuleco won with 48% of the vote.Fuleco establishing himself as a Brazilian football great
FIFA.com. Retrieved 12 January 2012 The final mascot design was chosen after

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 ...

and the Local Organizing Committee had analyzed 47 different proposals created by six different Brazilian agencies. The designs were further analyzed through extensive research carried out amongst its primary target audience, Brazilian children between the ages of five and twelve, with the favourite being the armadillo, created by 100%Design. Fuleco is seen as a cheerful and appealing personality. Independent research carried out on behalf of FIFA stated that 89% of Brazilians questioned said they had seen the mascot, and it gained favourable scores as a likeable character.

Controversy

914784-protesto copa rio de janeiro-2219

Environmental group the Caatinga Association, an organization whose campaigning helped FIFA choose the armadillo as its mascot, claimed that FIFA has not given any money to support the endangered species. FIFA acknowledged that it does not have any connection with organisations attempting to help the species despite expecting to make profits from selling merchandise based on their mascot.

References

External links

FIFA's official webpage on Fuleco
{{2014 FIFA World Cup 2014 FIFA World Cup Fictional armadillos Anthropomorphic mammals Brazilian mascots FIFA World Cup mascots Mascots introduced in 2014

Creation and design

Controversy

See also

References

External links