The Official World Cup Match Ball `Fevernova` Unveiled

The draw for the 2002 World Cup finals that may determine the `fate` of 32 countries will take place in the Busan Exhibition and Convention Center (BEXCO) on December 1, which thousands of millions of people around the world will watch.

The draw is an important event that will make it possible to forecast the phases of the Korea-Japan World Cup held for a month from May 31, 2002. The draw will begin at 7:05 pm on that day and will continue for an hour and a half in the presence of over 3,500 people, including President Joseph Blatter and other personnel of Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), and the officials concerned with soccer from various countries and reporters.

13 drawers will allot each of 8 groups by 4 countries drawn from 32 countries, including 29 national countries entering the finals through preliminary competitions of each continent in addition to the co-hosts, Korea and Japan and the winner of the last World Cup, France, which have automatically qualified for the finals.

Especially, the draw for the 2002 World Cup finals co-hosted by Korea and Japan as the first World Cup finals in history is expected to catch the eyes of the world by featuring a variety of celebration events that will harmonize the traditional culture of the East and the modern culture of the West.

Meanwhile, the 2002 World Cup official match ball, `Fevernova` was unveiled on Nov. 30. The word `Fevernova` is a compound of `Fever` meaning `passion` and `Nova` meaning `star`.

Adidas, which is the maker of FIFA World Cup official match balls, announced that, "Fevernova, whose design signifies the powers of Korea and Japan, is the best match ball among those of the past in terms of its elasticity, repellency and rotary power."

stt77@donga.com