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 from ...

, hosted in

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

. Fuleco is a

Brazilian three-banded armadillo The Brazilian three-banded armadillo (''Tolypeutes tricinctus'') is an armadillo species endemic to eastern Brazil, where it is known as (, lit. ball armadillo). It is one of only two species of armadillo that can roll into a ball (the other is ...

, a species of

armadillo Armadillos (meaning "little armored ones" in Spanish) are New World placental mammals in the order Cingulata. The Chlamyphoridae and Dasypodidae are the only surviving families in the order, which is part of the superorder Xenarthra, alo ...

which is native to Brazil and categorized as a

vulnerable species A vulnerable species is a species which has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as being threatened with extinction unless the circumstances that are threatening its survival and reproduction improve. Vulnera ...

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 the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biolo ...

. Fuleco was officially launched as part of Brazilian broadcaster

TV Globo TV Globo (, "Globe TV", or simply Globo), formerly known as Rede Globo, is a Brazilian free-to-air Television broadcasting, television network, launched by media proprietor Roberto Marinho on 26 April 1965. It is owned by media conglomerate Gr ...

's weekly ''

Fantástico ''Fantástico'' (originally known as ''Fantástico: O Show da Vida'', Portuguese for ''Fantastic The Show of Life'') is a Brazilian weekly television news program broadcast on Sunday nights on Rede Globo since August 5, 1973, created by José Bo ...

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

portmanteau A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of wordsPortuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

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 New Year's Day is a festival observed in most of the world on 1 January, the first day of the year in the modern Gregorian calendar. 1 January is also New Year's Day on the Julian calendar, but this is not the same day as the Gregorian one. Whi ...

. He is a

, 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 and 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 cl ...

. 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 FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' (French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

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 tatu bola as its mascot, claimed that FIFA has not given any money to support the endangered species. FIFA accepted that it does not have any connection with organisations attempting to help the tatu bola 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 Brazilian mascots FIFA World Cup mascots

Creation and design

Controversy

See also

References

External links