Mikhail Kalashnikov passes away

Dead at 94, the man who created world's most lethal weapon: Mikhail Kalashnikov passes away in hospital bed  

• Former Russian peasant designed the AK-47 after the Second World War
• Popular with militants, the gun is still made in his home city of Izhevsk
• Its low price and wide production made it synonymous with mass killing
• Inventor insisted he created it to 'defend the fatherland' of Soviet Union
• He never wanted to design guns and would rather have built a lawnmower
• There is one Kalashnikov for every 70 people in the world
• Mikhail Kalashnikov, the designer of the assault rifle that has killed more people than any other firearm in the world, has died in hospital at the age of 94.

The creator of the AK-47 more than 60 years ago died in hospital his home city of Izhevsk, near the Ural Mountains - where his gun is still made.

He had been ill for some time and had been in intensive care since November 17. 

Deadly icon: Mikhail Kalashnikov with the weapon that made his fortune - and won him praise and condemnation. There is one AK-47 for every 70 people in the world, the deadliest weapon ever created

Soviet hero: Mikhail Kalashnikov in 1949, two years after the weapon he invented went into mass production

Honoured: He met President Vladimir Putin just three months ago. Mr Putin expressed his 'deep condolences'

Kalashnikov, a Russian peasant with little formal education, designed the eponymous rifle in 1947  - with the letters AK-47 referring to 'Kalashnikov's Automatic' (Avtomat Kalashnikova) and the year of its release.

But the rifle and its variants soon became the weapons of choice for dozens of armies and guerrilla groups around the world.

Specifically engineered to work in the harsh conditions in which Soviet troops operated, it became one of the most successful weapons ever produced and turned its inventor into one of the most lauded men in the Soviet Union.

Cheap, efficient and easily mass-produced, the gun soon became synonymous with killing on a sometimes indiscriminate scale. 

It was taken up by militants as far afield as Iraq, Afghanistan, Colombia, Liberia, Sudan, Zaire and Gaza, to name a few. Osama Bin Laden was infamously pictured clutching the deadly weapon. 

Kalashnikov, inventor of AK47, dies at 94

Militants: Osama Bin Laden was pictured with the weapon including in this photo in June 2001

Conflict: A Libyan rebel fighter as she heard Colonel Gaddafi's forces had been driven out of Benghazi in 2011

Invading U.S. troops reportedly found a gold-plated Kalashnikov in one of the palaces of Saddam Hussein, left. Right: A Palestinian militant brandishes his AK-47 during a rally near the West Bank city of Nablus

Weaponry: Iraqi schoolboys practice firing AK-47 assault rifles at a summer military camp, Baghdad, in 2002

Mass-produced: A Nato soldier surrounded by weapons collected from Albanian guerillas in 2001

Iraqi policemen hold AK-47s during a police parade in the capital Baghdad 2003. The weapon, named for its inventor and the year when it was created, was never patented in Russia so was widely copied

100 MILLION AND COUNTING: HOW AK-47 BECAME WORLD'S DEADLIEST

The AK-47's story truly began in 1942, when Soviet soldiers siezed new-style automatic rifles from German troops.

Unlike traditional or semi-automatic rifles, they could fire a whole magazine of bullets simply by holding down the trigger, because the recoil from each shot ejected the previous cartridge.

Entrenched in the conflict of the Second World War, the Soviets set to work straight away on copying the Nazis' designs.

But their first versions were clunky, weighing more than 5kg without bullets, and the task of creating a new design fell to Mikhail Kalashnikov, who had created an unsuccessful gun prototype earlier in the war.

His design mashed together the best elements of previous weapons and won a competition in 1946, going into full production the next year.

Accuracy was not its strongest point but it endured for its simplicity and reliability in even the harshest of conditions - built, as it was, in the wilds of Siberia.

It was not patented - opening the door for millions of 'pirate' versions - because of the culture which existed in the Communist state.

All ideas were property of the government, not one individual person, and pride came from helping the great Soviet army.

Source: World Guns

There are an estimated 100 million Kalashnikovs, one for every 70 people in the world. The gun is in official service in 55 countries and adorns the flag of Mozambique.

Its vast popularity was partly down to the fact its design was never patented, so it was widely ripped off.

This was accelerated by the Soviet Union's policy of allowing friendly countries to imitate its designs of weaponry to strengthen its position during the Cold War.

The Kalashnikov was prized for its sturdy reliability in difficult conditions.

During the Vietnam war American soldiers reportedly threw away their M-16s in the harsh jungle and took every AK-47 they could find.

The 205-year-old Izmash factory, which makes the weapon and is seen by Russians as a national icon, always complained that its potential income was hit badly by the 'pirated' versions of the designs made abroad.

But Izmash has also suffered from dwindling demand and a failure to make up for this with foreign orders - a problem plaguing many specialised post-Soviet industries.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, who met Mr Kalashnikov just three months ago, expressed his 'deep condolences' over his death.

Born in a Siberian village as the 17th child of his family on November 10, 1919, Mr Kalashnikov had a tragic childhood during which his father was deported under Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin in 1930.

In October 1941 he was heavily wounded and shell-shocked in a Soviet defeat by the Germans. He reportedly first conceived of the weapon while recovering in hospital.

Despite the lethal legacy of his weapon, Russia lavished Mr Kalashnikov with honours including the prestigious Hero of Russia prize, the nation's highest honour, for designing the iconic rifle.

In 2007, president Vladimir Putin praised him, saying 'The Kalashnikov rifle is a symbol of the creative genius of our people.'

The inventor had said he had never intended for it to become the world's most popular weapon, and he fell into making it by accident.

Instead he had wanted to design farm equipment 'such as a lawnmower', he claimed.

Yet he carried on working as the chief designer at Izmash well into his 80s.

He profited little from his gun, and almost not at all before the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Because of the lack of patent laws he was, like the inventors of more harmless global successes like Tetris, merely a state employee.

'I created a weapon to defend the fatherland's borders,' he said during an award ceremony at the Kremlin to mark his 90th birthday.

Fame: Despite the advent of hundreds of other guns, the AK-47 by Mikhail Kalashnikov (pictured with his designs) led the pack for its hard-wearing simplicity and the ease with which it could be copied

The former Siberian peasant, pictured in 2002, continued working as a leading gun designer well into his 80s

Celebration: The ageing inventor had a complex legacy but was honoured as a Russian hero

Indirectly, Mikhail Kalashnikov leaves a bloody legacy. He claimed he would rather have invented a lawnmower

'It's not my fault that it was sometimes used where it shouldn't have been. This is the fault of politicians.'

On another occasion he said: 'After the collapse of the great and mighty Soviet Union so much c**p has been imposed on us, especially on the younger generation. I wrote six books to help them find their way in life.'

There is a bronze bust of him in his native village of Kurya in the Siberian region of Altai - and it is a local tradition for newlyweds to lay flowers there.

'They whisper "Uncle Misha, wish us happiness and healthy kids," he once said. "What other gun designer can boast of that?"'

INSTRUMENT OF MURDER: FIVE FACTS ABOUT THE WORLD'S DEADLIEST GUN 

1. 
   
   

   Dangerous: Kalashnikovs in Colombia
   Chile's Communist president Salvador Allende died holding an AK-47 in 1973
2. During the Iraq war, U.S. troops found a gold-plated Kalashnikov reportedly given to Saddam Hussein's son Uday at one of the Iraqi leader's palaces in Baghdad
3. Osama bin Laden used to hold an AK-47 in his videotaped diatribes against the West...
4. ... But America may have inadvertently given it to him. Guns captured in Lebanon in 1982 reportedly found their way, via the CIA and the Pakistani Inter-Service Intelligence Agency, to the Mujahadeen, who were resisting the then-Soviet occupation of Afghanistan
5. Several American mass shooters, including some at high schools, have used the weapon including recently in Georgia and New Jersey.

HOW THE JIHADISTS STOLE MY ONLY SON...

What turned two boys from decent Christian families into murderers in the name of Islam?

• Michael Adebolajo born to a lower middle class family in South London 
• He was brought up a Christian and dreamed of becoming a policeman 
• Described as a 'lovely polite boy ' and a 'very family-orientated person'
• His mother is said to have no idea what turned him into a monster
• Michael Adebowale was described as fun-loving and 'always smiling' 
• He became involved in drugs and claimed he was possessed by evil spirits
• Adebolajo kissed the Koran and smiled as verdicts were read to Old Bailey
• Extremists had denied murder on the basis they were 'soldiers of Allah'

Even at the end he refused to show any remorse.

As the verdict of murder was delivered, Michael Adebolajo smirked and kissed his copy of the Koran – the teachings of which he had twisted to justify his savagery.

He then looked to the heavens as if obeying Allah’s command before being led away to the cells. It was a final act of defiance from the 29-year-old convert who used the trial to peddle his hatred of Britain and his love of Al Qaeda.

Former lover: Michael Adebolajo's ex-girlfriend Justine Ridgen, 26, who is a beautician once shortlisted as the 'Face of Essex'. She dated the killer for a year before his descent into extremism

Gesture: Adebolajo holds the Koran up to his face and kisses it as the verdict of murder is delivered. Next to him Adebowale stares grimly ahead

Again and again he told Lee Rigby’s family how he will never regret killing the fusilier because he is a ‘soldier of Allah’. 

It is an image completely at odds with his Christian upbringing in a loving lower middle class family in a London suburb where he once dreamed of becoming a policeman.

Last night a family friend told Mail: ‘He had been brainwashed to the point of madness. How can someone raised with middle-class values go from wanting to be a policeman to this? 

At school: Friends said Michael Adebolajo was an easy-going teenager who used to crack jokes

‘His mother raised him as a Christian with good manners and respect. She still doesn’t understand how he turned into a monster.’

Adebolajo, 29, was born in Lambeth, South London, in 1984 to parents Anthony, a mental health nurse, and Tina, a teacher, who both emigrated from the south-west of Nigeria.

By all accounts he enjoyed a happy upbringing in Romford with his brother Jeremiah and sisters Blessing and Christiana.

His parents regularly took the children to church and Bible study. Pictures show a neatly dressed, good-looking boy whom friends described as ‘easy going and a bit of a joker’.

Among his close circle of friends at secondary school was Kirk Redpath, a lance corporal in the Army who was killed by a roadside bomb near Basra in Iraq in 2007. 

Both spent time at each other’s houses after lessons. When asked about Mr Redpath in court, Adebolajo said: ‘I hold Tony Blair responsible for his death.’

Today Mr Redpath’s younger brother Grant, 26, finds it hard to believe that the ‘laid-back’ teenager who used to crack jokes at his house has become a terrorist.

‘What happened in Woolwich was butchery,’ he said. ‘I’ve asked myself whether he would have done this to my brother also.

'I don’t know what happened to Michael because he used to be the most laid-back, nicest guy in the world. I can’t feel anger toward the Michael I knew, because he was so nice a person. We can’t understand it. I don’t think we ever will.’ 

CCTV: Blood-soaked men 'after they murdered soldier Lee Rigby'

Profile: A forensic psychiatrist told the Old Bailey Michael Adebolajo (pictured), showed 'no regret or remorse for his actions'

Rally: Michael Adebolajo (circled) pictured at a demonstration in Paddington Green, London, in 2007 with Anjem Choudary

Others who knew Adebolajo as a teenager remember him as a keen footballer and rapper.

Beautician Justine Ridgen, 26, who was once shortlisted as the ‘Face of Essex’ dated him for a year before his descent into extremism. ‘He was just a lovely polite boy. He was a very family-oriented person,’ she said.

Adebolajo, who worked as a fitness instructor, had considerable influence in persuading those close to him to convert to Islam, including his brother Jeremiah, 27 (pictured)

As Adebolajo reached his mid-teens, however, the first signs emerged of a young man beginning to rebel against the Christian orthodoxy.

He left school at 16, moving to Havering Sixth Form College for his A-levels. It was around this time that he fell in with a Nigerian gang.

Some claim he started holding knives to people’s throats to steal their mobile phones. 

Others suggested he became addicted cannabis and started selling drugs. 

He has three criminal convictions from his teenage years, including one for robbery. 

Then came his conversion to Islam. 

‘When he was about 17 he just locked himself in this room with this bloke for a few hours and when he came out he was a Muslim convert,’ a classmate said. 

‘He was spouting all sorts of stuff and said he had changed his name.’

His interest in radical Islam sparked furious rows with his parents. 

Concerned, they moved the family to Saxilby, a rural village near Lincoln.

However, in 2003, aged 19, he returned to London and enrolled in a building and surveying course at Greenwich University in south London.

During his second year at university he began to mix with the more radical Muslims. 

Hate preacher Omar Bakri Mohammed, the so-called ‘Tottenham Ayatollah’ who founded the now-banned extremist group Al-Muhajiroun, has even tried to claim credit for converting Adebolajo to Islam.

Adebolajo, centre, appears in court in Kenya in 201. He was accused of trying to lead a group of youths trying to join Somalia's Al-Qaeda-linked Shebab movement

He told the BBC’s Panorama: ‘The people were so happy about what Michael did. They carry attack against the British soldiers in the British soil. And we were so proud. He used to be one of my students.’

Adebolajo dropped out and changed his named to Mujahid Abu Hamza and started wearing traditional Muslim robes.

Well known: Michael Adebolajo was jailed for assaulting police at a protest and later arrested in Kenya trying to join Somalian extremists but was still allowed to walk free and later kill Lee Rigby

In 2005 he met hate preacher Anjem Choudary. In November 2006 he was arrested in a scuffle between extremists and police outside the Old Bailey during the trial of a fanatic accused of calling for British soldiers to be killed.

As he was led away he shouted about the right to ‘behead those who insult Islam’. The next year he was seen protesting outside Paddington Green police station.

Then in 2008 he was jailed for 51 days by magistrates for punching two officers during a demonstration outside the Danish embassy.

On an anniversary of 9/11 in 2009, he encouraged 1,500 followers to turn against Britain in a hate-filled rant outside a mosque. Standing on a platform, he yelled: ‘Do not be scared of the filthy kuffar [non-believers]. They are pigs.’

Adebolajo, who worked as a fitness instructor, had considerable influence in persuading those close to him to convert to Islam, including his brother Jeremiah, 27, and his sister Christiana, 22.

He has fathered six children by at least two women – Rikki Thomas and Makaela Murray-Jacobs – both of whom are Muslim converts. 

Miss Murray-Jacobs, 27, registered the birth of boy Abdullah Shoaib Tariq Aziz at Lambeth Register Office in Brixton on 22 May 2013, just hours before his father killed Lee Rigby.

They also have a girl, Junaydah Safiyah Adebolajo, born at Lewisham Hospital, in south London, in February 2007.  Makaela, a Muslim covert, told the Mail she was not involved in the murder of Lee Rigby. She said: ‘This has got nothing to do with me.’

The PE teacher, from south London, has set up home in Qatar’s  capital Doha with Abdebolajo’s children where she intends to live an ‘Islamic life’.

Brought up a Christian, she converted while studying at Greenwich University – where she met Adebolajo. 

How the Jihadists stole my only son

Michael Adebowale’s mother told last night how she had ‘lost’ her son to radical Islam and warned that extremists were ‘turning our children into terrorists’.

Speaking exclusively to the Mail, Juliet Obasuyi wept as she said: ‘I lost my son. He’s not dead, he’s still alive, but I lost him to the Jihad people.’

The Christian church chorister also revealed that she had confronted the imams her son visited because she was worried about his behaviour, but they simply told her he was a ‘good boy’.

Student: Michael Adebowale on his last day of school in Year 11 in 2007, six years before the 'model pupil' murdered Drummer Lee Rigby

It came as details emerged of how the 22-year-old, who had been a regular user of potent skunk cannabis, claimed he was possessed by evil spirits and had to be restrained when he tried to attack police officers.

In her first interview, the former probation officer said that she cannot understand why her only son murdered Fusilier Lee Rigby.

‘I don’t know the other boy, but my son wasn’t bad,’ she said.

‘My son was in the background. He was brainwashed by the older one. Perhaps he was the big brother my son never had.’ 

Juliet Obasuyi: She says her son was brainwashed

The 52-year-old warned of an ‘identity crisis’ among young black men in London which she believes has left them open to radicalisation.

She said her son had been studying creative writing at Birkbeck University in London, and wanted to write books on morals for Muslim children.

Michael Oluwatobi Adebowale was born to Nigerian parents in Denmark Hill, South London, in May 1991, and has one older half-sister Elizabeth Odunubi, who works in media.

His parents separated soon after his birth and he attended Sherington Primary School in Charlton – where actor Daniel Day Lewis and musician Jools Holland were educated.

He then attended Kidbrooke School in Greenwich, where he was known as Toby or Tobi, an abbreviation of his second name Oluwatobi.

Schoolfriends described him as fun-loving and ‘always smiling’ while neighbours said he chatted about Jamie Oliver recipes after the chef filmed his famous School Dinners series at the school.

But he started to be bullied at school and responded by joining a notorious local gang known as the Woolwich Boys. 

He began smoking skunk cannabis, drug dealing and looking after a crack den. The gang is dominated by Muslim youths of Somali origin and has been linked to extremism.

When he was 16, he was attacked by crack addict Lee James, a professional bare-knuckle fighter.

He was stabbed twice and his friend Faridon Alizada was killed in front of him.

Adebowale was later diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and claimed he saw ‘jinns’ or evil spirits. He claimed they were tormenting him for having once read the Bible and he began hearing voices in his head.

Convicted of drug dealing in 2009, he eventually served six months in young offenders institutions.

The following year he met Adebolajo while studying at Greenwich University, and became fully committed to radical Islam. 

Armed police officers surround Adebowale and Adebolajo on the...

Cold-blooded: Michael Adebowale, 22, of Greenwich, south-east London, with a knife in his hand after he had hacked Lee Rigby to death

He gave up alcohol, began distributing extremist leaflets near his mother’s home and started learning Arabic so he could write books for Muslim children.

Miss Obasuyi, who lives in Greenwich, said it came as a complete shock to her when he converted and changed his name to Ismail Ibn Abdullah.

She said: ‘His name is Michael. It’s a Christian name. He was raised in a Christian environment. I’m a Christian.’

Miss Obasuyi added: ‘I lost my son when he turned to Islam. I questioned the imams. I told them that he’s a very fragile boy.

‘They said: “He’s a wonderful boy. Why are you worried? He’s a good boy”. But I had this worry from day one and look what happened.’ 

Adebowale was also mentored by Richard Taylor, who, after the murder of his schoolboy son Damilola in 2000, campaigned against youth violence. 

Associate: This is Lee Rigby's other killer, Michael Adebowale, pictured at a rally linked to radical preacher Anjem Choudary and he was also known to be friends with Adebolajo, who MI5 had tried to recruit

Mr Taylor said shortly after the murder of Lee Rigby: ‘He was a young loving boy. Quiet. Then suddenly his mum started calling me that she needs help. I started to hear that he was getting involved in issues around gangs and drugs.’

Miss Obasuyi revealed that she had left her job and now plans to go back to Nigeria, where she was born.

During his trial, it emerged that Adebowale was a long-term user of potent skunk cannabis – known for its links to mental illness – and had been treated for mental health problems.

His barrister Abbas Lakha QC said he experienced ‘severe paranoia’ and ‘heard voices’.

After his arrest and while in custody, he punched one police officer, threw water at and spat at another. Met Assistant Commissioner Cressida Dick said he ‘had to be restrained, very restrained, by officers.’

A family friend said Adebowale’s father is thought to have worked for the Nigerian High Commission in London, but his mother struggled to control her wayward son.

WHITE WIDOW FUNDED ADEBOLAJO'S TERROR TRIP TO EAST AFRICA

On the run: Samantha Lewthwaite

Michael Adebolajo’s trip to East Africa for terror training was financed by Samantha Lewthwaite, the fugitive ‘white widow’.

He was caught three years ago trying to cross from Kenya to Somalia to enlist with Al Qaeda-linked militants.

And Kenyan police say Lewthwaite, widow of 7/7 tube bomber Germaine Lindsay, financed his failed mission.

‘We have good intelligence that Adebolajo’s trip was financed by this white woman, Samantha,’ said a senior source.

‘He came here to meet jihadists and train as a terrorists in Somalia.’

Elijah Rop, the anti-terror chief in Mombasa, said he warned the British authorities to keep Adebolajo in custody.

‘If the British took my advice after I established that this man was a bad man, then he would be in jail now’ he added.

‘We gave very honest advice but the [British] High Commissioner ignored us because they think we cannot advise them on a matter of security.’

After arriving back in the UK, Adebolajo was deemed low risk by MI5 and was not closely monitored.

He was on MI5’s radar before he went to Kenya in October 2010 to spend a month being radicalised by Lewthwaite and her murderous Al Shabaab cohorts. He then set off for the terror cell’s training camps in lawless Somalia.

He and five others were arrested on a boat close to Lamu, a town near the border. They were carrying Al Shabaab pamphlets and immediately identified as a terror threat by Kenyan police.

Adebolajo was about to be charged with terrorism offences before the British authorities asked for his deportation back to the UK. 

A year after meeting him, 29-year-old Lewthwaite was on the run from police who had linked her to a terror cell and bomb plot in Mombasa.

Police say the mother of four from Aylesbury, Bucks, uses her money and middle-class education to fund the cell.

Man whose hand was severed has it attached to his ANKLE for a month to keep it alive before being reattached.Doctors have successfully reattached a man's severed hand after it was attached to his ankle for a month.

RIP Madiba...

Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (Xhosa pronunciation: [xoˈliːɬaɬa manˈdeːla]) (18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999 and an anti-apartheid revolutionary and politician. Good Nite Madiba / Tata.

HappY Birthday JAY Z.

Jay Z is 44.

SEE THE BRAZUCA

Bring on the Brazuca! New World Cup ball for Brazil is unveiled... so why won't England use it until next summer?

Steven Gerrard has declared the new World Cup ball will be the best ever after it was officially unveiled in Rio last night - but England won't get to play with it until next summer.

Sportsmail can reveal that the FA will take delivery of the new adidas Brazuca ball - which translates as 'Brazilian' in Portuguese, to describe the Brazilian way of life - on December 16.

Yet Roy Hodgson's team will not kick it competitively until weeks before next summer's tournament under the terms of their lucrative £25million-a-year Nike deal.

Bring on the Brazuca: England captain Steven Gerrard believes the new World Cup ball will be the best yet

Heads up: Brazilian synchronized swimmers Bianca Feres and Branca Feres test out the Brazuca ball

Eye-catching: Three fans at the Brazuca launch party in Rio de Janeiro

Brazil, France, Portugal, USA, Holland, South Korea, Australia and Croatia must also use the ball in their international friendlies leading towards the World Cup and it will be used in the Premier League in the New Year.Instead they must field the Nike Ordem ball that was launched on the eve of Tuesday's Brazuca presentation in an internet video featuring Wayne Rooney and Rory McIlroy. 

It means German-based players will have a six-month advantage with the colourful samba-inspired Brazuca, which will be rolled out in the Bundesliga next month.

On the ball: A hostess presents the official ball for the 2014 World Cup

Colourful: An image of Brazuca is projected on to the Parque Lage

In control: Brazil favourites Cafu (left) and Hernane (centre) and Dutchman Clarence Seedorf, who currently plays for Botafogo

World in his hands: Lionel Messi will be hoping to lead Argentina to glory at next summer's showpiece in Brazil

Tried and tested: The ball was used but in disguise during the Argentina v Sweden friendly earlier this year and was also used during the recent FIFA Under 20 World Cup, in which Ross Barkley starred for England (L)

It is possible that England will train with the World Cup ball behind-closed-doors before their next game against Denmark in March.'When you play with different balls in training or a match, having it weeks and months before the tournament is really important,' said Arsenal forward Lukas Podolski, who will get to play with it on Germany duty.

But the Brazuca ball will be familiar to a number of top stars as many have already played with it over the past two-and-a-half years.

It is adidas' most tested football ever and a series of extensive testing has been carried out to ensure it exceeds FIFA regulations, following the controversy caused by the ill-fated Jabulani in 2010, when players panned the tournament match ball.

Michael Carrick compared it to a 'beach ball', Daniel Agger said it made players 'look like drunken sailors' and Julio Cesar claimed it was 'like a ball from a supermarket'.

'We are still proud of Jabulani,' Matthias Mecking, adidas' business unit director, told Sportsmail at an exclusive test event in Germany. 

'It was, at that time, the most technically advanced ball. 

Robo-boot: The Brazuca underwent a series of extensive tests, including this robotic boot trial, in order to meet and exceed FIFA regulations

Putting the pieces together: The Brazuca ball is comprised of a groundbreaking six-panel design, which improves symmetry, uniformity and efficiency

In the spotlight: The Brazuca will be used throughout next summer's World Cup

'But we always look to evolve our products so our benchmark for the Bruzuaca was not the Jabulani, it was the Tango [Euro 2012 ball].

'It will feel similar to balls they are used to playing with but the technological changes we have made will provide improved grip, touch, stability and aerodynamics on the pitch.' 

'It's increased my levels of excitement even further and I honestly cannot wait for the opening game!'

The Brazuca has already been used in 10 countries by 30 teams, with 600 players involved in the trialling.

Samba style: Oscar showcases the ball, which was named the 'Brazuca' following a public poll vote in his native Brazil back in September 2012

Red alert: Barcelona midfielder Xavi shows off his skills with the Brazuca ahead of Spain's World Cup defence

Clubs involved in testing included AC Milan, Bayern Munich, Palmeiras and Fluminese and it was even disguised during the recent Under 20 World Cup and February’s friendly between Sweden and Argentina.

Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi, who played in that match, said: 'My first impression of the ball is that it’s really good.' 

The ball was revealed on Tuesday night with a spectacular 3D light projection launch event held at the iconic Parque Lage in Rio de Janeiro, with World Cup winner Cafu attending along with legendary Holland midfielder Clarence Seedorf and Brazil striker Fred.

Sharp shooters: Spain and Chelsea duo Fernando Torres and Juan Mata (R) put the Brazuca to the test

Captain of the reigning world champions Spain, Iker Casillas, was critical of the Jubalani almost four years ago but now admits he is looking forward to the prospect of playing with the Brazuca.

'Now the ball has been launched the tournament feels a lot closer,' he said.

'I’m looking forward to playing in Brazil with a great ball. Hopefully with Brazuca we can get the same result as in 2010.'

Brazilian star Dani Alves added: 'We’re going to have a lot of fun with it. Most importantly it plays well on the ground and in the air.

England captain Gerrard was one of 287 players who were interviewed about the ball and believes it will be universally popular this time, likening it to one that's used in the Champions League.

Raring to go: Brazil defender Daniel Alves insists he can't wait to play with the new Brazuca at the World Cup

'The sign of a good ball is when no one really talks about it,’ said the Liverpool midfielder. 

‘I don’t think anyone will have anything negative to say about Brazuca. I think the feedback from players will be really positive.

'It's very true and reliable, and those are the two most important things I want from a ball.

'The Champions League ball has always been a big favourite among the players because of how reliable it is. Brazuca’s very similar and I think the players will be very happy about that.’

On the volley: Uruguay striker Edison Cavani gets acquainted with the new Brazuca ball

'I want the ball to be as difficult as possible for goalkeepers but I think Brazuca is fair to both sides,' added Gerrard. The Brazuca weighs 437 grams and absorbs just 0.2 per cent of water. It is also the first-ever six-panel ball to improve symmetry, uniformity and efficiency, meaning it is unlikely to deviate in mid-air and cause goalkeepers concern unlike the Jabulani.

'Players and goalkeepers will be happy because it’s a really fair ball. 

'I’m sure the ball will perform in the various Brazilian climates. It’s been tested in all conditions and climates. It’s come through those tests with flying colours and that’s all you can ask for as a player.

'One thing’s for sure, there’ll be no excuses with this ball.'

No excuses. 

Standing out: The Brazuca is the most colourful World Cup ball yet, as it stands out from the rest of the adidas balls used in the finals dating back to 1970

Steven Gerrard launches the adidas brazuca, the Official match ball of the Brazil 2014 FIFA World Cup