SHENZHEN-MADE soccer balls and souvenirs for the World Cup have boosted business at the Copacabana souvenir shop, the largest World Cup souvenir shop in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, Shenzhen Economic Daily reported yesterday.

    Around 20,000 souvenirs and 6,000 soccer balls are sold a day in the shop, which expects sales will increase when students go on summer vacation in July, the Daily quoted a clerk, identified as Lisa, as saying.

    In Brazil, almost every family has a soccer ball and many have more than one.

    A soccer kingdom with a population of 200 million, Brazil once had 80 percent of its citizens playing the sport, according to official statistics.

    “The quality of the soccer ball for the World Cup is really good and England soccer star Rio Ferdinand bought one when he visited the shop two days ago,” a volunteer was quoted by the newspaper as saying.

    In the shop, a soccer ball sells for BRL99.9 (US$44).

    The sales of soccer balls during this year’s World Cup are expected to exceed 13 million, the number of balls sold at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. This number could bring revenues of 16.8 billion yuan (US$2.7 billion) to Brazil, the report said.(Han Ximin)