The 2014 World Cup in Brazil will have a new football that’s going to be used at the global showpiece. Brazuca as it’s called – is the most tested football ever, since for over a two-and-a-half-year period, it has been tried out by more than 600 of the world’s top players or former players, including Lionel Messi and Zinedine Zidane.
The 2014 World Cup football, Bracuza is a big improvement from 2010’s effort –Jabulani. It has longer and deeper seams to make it less volatile in the air. This means it will travel further and more accurately during games.
Unveiled by adidas a few months ago, Bracuza is the 12th ball adidas have made for the world cup. And unlike the Jabulani that faced much criticism at the 2010 showpiece, Bracuza is smoother and more stable in the air.
The ball itself weighs 437 grams, made from just eight pieces of shaped synthetic material glued tightly together and it has a water absorption rate of just 0.2%, meaning it can retain its shape, size and weight even in the rain. It doesn’t curve like previous balls would, and so advice from experts is to kick it straight and with less energy now compared with 2010.
The ball is textured and feels more like the adidas’ Finale 13, the official UEFA Champions League ball, than the adidas Jabulani used in South Africa four years ago.
Did You Know?
The early pre-world cup balls ranged from human heads, stitched up cloth, animal and human skulls to pig or cow bladders. A Medieval custom was to take pig bladders used from live stock killed in preparation for winter sustenance and inflate them. Then a game would be played using their feet and hands to keep the “ball” in the air.
The 1930 Soccer Ball of “Tiento”, an addition of a carcass made of strong cloths, was used as the first world cup football. That particular ball played a part in the outcome of the world cup in 1930. Argentina and Uruguay could not agree on which ball to use. So they decided to use an Argentinean ball the first half and a ball supplied by Uruguay in the second half. As it turned out, Argentina was ahead at halftime 2-1 using their soccer ball. However; Uruguay came back to win the match in the second half 4-2 using their ball!
