By David Gold
August 15 – Adidas is asking football fans across the world to vote for the name of the ball that will be used during the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.
The three choices fans can choose from are Carnavalesca, a word for carnival-goers, Bossa nova, the samba-jazz music popular in Rio de Janeiro in the 50s and 60s, and Brazuca, a slang word for native Brazilians.
The three names have all been put forward in their feminine form with the ‘a’ rather than ‘o’ male endings because of the Brazilian stereotype that a football is like a woman, and should be treated with care.
Fans can vote for their favourite name at www.adidas.com.br/nome-da-bola-2014.
The World Cup ball has been named since the 1970 competition in Mexico.
At both that World Cup and the subsequent event in West Germany the ball was named Telstar, before Argentina went with Tango for 1978.
In Spain in 1982 they named the ball the Tango España, and the name has changed every four years since, with the last World Cup in South Africa featured the Jabulani (pictured above).
The naming of the ball has raised eyebrows however, as a campaign had been pushing to name the ball Gorduchinha.
Brazil’s former World Cup winning forward Romário, now a Congressman, said on his Facebook page that he was surprised that the word was not on the list.
The word was created by the Brazilian writer Osmar Santos, who coined a number of famous catchphrases during his time as a football commentator, including Gorduchinha, which means “little chubby”.
Fans can vote on the name of the ball until September 2.
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