{"id":5255,"date":"2012-11-26T23:21:22","date_gmt":"2012-11-26T17:51:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.entecity.com\/?p=5255"},"modified":"2012-11-26T23:21:22","modified_gmt":"2012-11-26T17:51:22","slug":"fuleco-the-2014-fifa-world-cup-mascot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/entecity.com\/news\/fuleco-the-2014-fifa-world-cup-mascot\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Fuleco’ – The 2014 FIFA World Cup Mascot"},"content":{"rendered":"

The mascot for 2014 football world cup has been named \u2018Fuleco<\/strong><\/em>\u2019 as announced by FIFA<\/strong> on Monday. In an online poll 1.7 million Brazilians chose \u2018Fuleco\u2019 for naming the mascot, a 3 branded armadillo. Armadillo<\/a> being an endangered species in Brazil \u2018Fuleco\u2019 conveys the message of conservation of the species. Also Fuleco is a fusion of the words \u201cfutebol” (football) and “ecologia” (ecology). FIFA points out that the choice of the name shows how the Brazilians care for environment as much as they do for football.<\/p>\n

“This clearly shows that Brazilians already recognize the significance of the armadillo as an important ambassador for the 2014 FIFA World Cup<\/strong> and his role in inspiring fans all over the world with his passion for the sport and his country,” FIFA said in a statement.<\/p>\n

The mascot was chosen in September and in\u00a012 host cities of Brazil huge inflatable forms of the Yellow and Blue armadillo were exhibited. But in 3 cities vandals attacked them and the authorities had to take them down. The mascot wears the colours of the Brazilian flag. The armadillo is yellow wearing green shorts and a blue shell and a white shirt with \u2018Brazil 2014<\/em>\u2019 written on it. It is expected that \u2018Fuleco\u2019 will make an appearance this week at Sao Paulo at the draw for the 2013 Confederations Cup.<\/p>\n

Interestingly, draw for the 2013 Confederations Cup has its own home page and twitter account. It tweeted – \u201cThanks Brazil! There were more than 1.700.000 votes. Now I have a name and it is Fuleco<\/strong>!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t\t