It's one of the stars of the World Cup - the paintbrush with which the world's greatest footballing maestros must create their art.
But is it up to the task? The Brazuca, the official ball of Brazil 2014, is the 12th ball created by Adidas for the World Cup.
The company came under fire four years ago for the Jabulani, the official ball at the 2010 competition in South Africa, which was heavily criticised.
"It's trajectory is unpredictable," claimed Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon, while Brazilian striker Luis Fabiano branded it "supernatural".
Adidas claims the Brazuca has improved touch and accuracy.
"We do extensive flight path analysis and the results have shown constant and predictable paths, with deviations hardly recognisable," Adidas's football director Matthias Mecking told the BBC.
Experts in aerodynamics interviewed by the BBC outline three factors that are expected to influence how the official ball of Brazil 2014 will behave.
"The most important thing on the soccer ball is how much roughness you have," explained Dr Rabi Mehta, branch chief at the US space agency's (Nasa) Ames Research Center in California, and an aerodynamics expert.
The amount of roughness, he explains, "dictates what the critical speed is going to be at which you get maximum 'knuckling' of the ball".
He tested the Jabulani in a wind tunnel and has been looking at the Brazuca. The so called "knuckling effect" occurs when the ball does no
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