This summer, Russia hosted the FIFA World Cup. Of course, this World Cup also had its own official ball - Adidas Telstar 18. Many fans, watching broadcasts from Russian stadiums, probably paid attention to it. But what is this ball made of? What are soccer balls made of for professionals nowadays?
An excursion into the history of football balls
When football first took shape as a sport, the bladders of animals (for example, pigs) were used as balls. Such balls did not differ in durability, which caused a lot of inconvenience to the players. The situation changed significantly only with the discovery in 1838 of the rubber vulcanization method. In 1855, a man named Charles Goodyear created the first ball out of such rubber. It turned out that such balls have not only strength, but also remarkable jumping ability. And a little later, in 1862, inventor Richard Lyndon presented his rubber inflatable chamber to the public at the London exhibition.
These two inventions created the preconditions for the mass production of soccer balls. And from decade to decade, professional equipment for playing football has evolved, getting better and better.
In 1950, the Danish company Select created a ball made up of 32 waterproof panels (twelve of them were pentagons in shape and the other twenty were hexagons). This structure soon became traditional. This was largely due to the fact that the legendary company Adidas created its own version of such a ball for the 1970 World Cup held in Mexico. The peculiarity of the model from Adidas (by the way, it was simply called Telstar, not to be confused with Telstar 18!) Was also that it was not monochromatic, but had black and white colors. This decision was not just a design delight, but also pursued a practical goal: such a ball was better seen on black and white screens - many people then had TVs with such screens).
Balls for the last world championships
Until recently, soccer ball panels were glued or stitched together (by hand or using special machines). In 2004, Adidas introduced the Roteiro ball, the panels of which were bonded using an innovative thermal bonding technology. And since then, almost all balls for world tournaments have been made using this technology.
All the 2006 FIFA World Cup games in Germany were played with a ball called the Teamgeist. And the cover of this ball consisted not of thirty-two, but of fourteen panels (for the first time since 1970). The 2010 World Cup ball in South Africa called the Adidas Jabulani had just eight panels, while the Adidas Brazuca for the 2014 World Cup had even fewer six panels. In fact, it was a highly curved cube. The connection was carried out at eight points of articulation and by means of twelve seams. In this case, the seams here did not pass along the edges of the cube, but along a certain curve.
Structure of modern balls
The official balls of the latest world championships, despite all the innovations, still have a completely classic structure:
- camera;
- tire;
- lining.
Cameras today are made of synthetic butyl or latex, in some cases polyurethane. Air from latex chambers leaves faster than from butyl ones, but balls with latex chambers surpass all others in such characteristics as bouncing and elasticity.
Lining refers to a special layer between the tube and the tire. It is usually made from compressed cotton or polyester. The properties of a soccer ball are highly dependent on the size of the lining. It is the lining that helps to keep the ball in shape in any situation. In addition, the thickness of the pad affects the bounce rate from the ground. Professional soccer balls can even have more than three layers of lining.
As for tires, synthetics are now mainly used to create them, leather is rarely used. Because leather has a significant drawback: it absorbs water, making the ball heavier. Basically, PVC or polyurethane is used for the manufacture of tires.
Ball for World Cup 2018
The tire of the Adidas Telstar 18 ball used at the World Cup in Russia consists of six identical parts. Moreover, each detail has the shape of an eight-pointed star and is decorated with a peculiar gray pixel pattern. In addition, the Adidas emblem and the World Cup emblem are drawn here.
The Telstar 18 camera is designed from natural rubber. And the lining is roughly similar to the lining of the Adidas Beau Jeu (this ball was used at the 2016 European Championships). The materials from which it is made are polyurethane and polyester.
Adidas Telstar 18 is also interesting in that the NFC chip is embedded in the lining. This chip can communicate with smartphones. When the smartphone is brought to the ball, a page with information about it is loaded on the device.
