Football Notes: Chinese Factory Wins Contract To Produce 2014 Brazil World Cup Mascot

The 2014 World Cup mascot Fuleco "may for now still be a largely unknown yellow armadillo with a blue shell and tail," but the mascot represents 80% of sales for Tongchuang Toys in the eastern province of Anhui, China. The company won a contract with the tournament organizers to produce a million furry toy versions of Fuleco, whose name, according to FIFA, is a fusion of the words "futebol" and "ecologia" (AFP, 1/7). ... The draw for the 2015 African Cup of Nations qualifiers has been "switched from Cape Town at the end of this month to host nation Morocco in April by the Confederation of African Football." The draw "was intended to be conducted a day before the final of the lesser-known African Nations Championship," which takes place in South Africa and begins on Saturday. Instead, "it has been moved to Morocco" (INSIDE WORLD FOOTBALL, 1/7)