World Cup Soccer Ball

"It's the science that improves the ball (but not everyone agrees)."

Creating the world cup soccer ball was a combined effort of Bayer, the well-known pharmaceutical company and Adidas. Can you swallow that?

Since 1970 Adidas has designed the world cup soccer ball. But the innovations of the past, and the most recent offering, the +Teamgeist™ ball, is not completely the work of Adidas.

In The Beginning

Starting with the Adidas Telstar, then the Adidas Tango, and then to the Adidas Fevernova the ball always still had 32 panels. There were other innovations, but the world cup soccer ball still had 20 - 5 sided panels, and 12 - 6 sided panels. That made for a lot of points on the ball where the seams joined. 60 points, to be precise. The issue was that if you struck the ball exactly on a seam that the ball would react differently than when contacted on the smooth area of the ball. This can affect the accuracy, flight, and acceleration of the ball.

What To Do?

So the challenge became - how do we have less seams, and improve the effectiveness of each ball strike? And of course it had to look good to. How they came up with the present design is a secret, but the 14 panel design has taken over. These 14 panels are shaped like propellers and turbines. This not only reduces the number of seams to 24, but it makes the surface more consistent. Plus, the panel design implies motion and we all love to see motion on a soccer ball.

Fastest Ever?

Adidas claims that this is the fastest ball ever made. Due to the new 14 panel design the ball is said to absorb more of the power of a kick. Therefore, it will release more energy too. That will convert that energy into speed.

The Shell

Surprise! This is where Bayer came in. After all they do get pills to slide down our throats easily, don't they? So why not go to them to coat the ball, so it is smooth enough to not absorb water, but coarse enough so a soccer goalie can get a good grip? You may be surprised to find out that Bayer has been providing a product called Impranil� to the textile industry for many decades. Why not use it on the ball? So they did. And it got rave reviews from most in soccer.

Contradictions

The opening match of the 2006 World Cup saw an incredible goal from 40 yards out by Torsten Frings. The ball began straight and then tailed sharply in the last 10 yards. It could not be stopped. But with a different ball it could have been a standard save. Why is that?

Here is the scientific reasoning.

Less panels means less seams. This can cause the soccer ball to behave similar to a baseball. The whirls of air will cause a spinning ball to drift toward the side that's spinning away from the ball's direction of movement. Therefore, a ball that is not spinning can bounce around erratically. Baseball pitchers count on this when throwing knuckleballs.

If you have a low spin rate, the panel pattern can influence the trajectory of the soccer ball and make it unpredictable for a soccer goalkeeper.

When you are watching your favorite match on TV, keep an eye out for the times that the ball has little or no rotation. That is when the goalies will be mesemerized by the knucle-ball effect, and have trouble tracking the ball's flight.

Most Famous

The most famous of the world cup soccer balls is the ball from the final match of the 2006 World Cup. This special Match Ball was designed in gold, with black and white details. It was named “+Teamgeist Berlin”, because the final was played there. As the Golden Ball is the name of the official FIFA trophy awarded to the best player of the FIFA World Cup™ tournament, then it was only fitting to play with a golden ball in the final.

So what's next for the World Cup Soccer Ball? Who knows with Adidas?

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