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Should FIFA redesign the ball?

James Donachie of the Brisbane Roar (right) and Brandon O'Neill of Sydney FC jump for a high ball during their round 7 A-League game at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane, Saturday, Nov. 19, 2016. (AAP Image/Dan Peled)
Roar Guru
5th February, 2017
10

Marco van Basten has suggested making big changes to the rules of the game – but maybe FIFA should just change the ball instead.

Changing the rules is an obvious way to improve the game but not all changes are well received by traditionalists.

Changing the ball however would be much less controversial. The idea has already gone through a number of incarnations through history.

At one point during medieval times, the ball had an outer shell made of leather and was stuffed with cork shavings. After this inflated animal bladders were used to keep the ball’s shape.

Thankfully things quickly improved with the development of vulcanised rubber in 1838. Most of the balls around this time had 18 pieces of leather which were stitched together and arranged into six panels of three strips each.

The ball used during the world cup has gone through many different versions which have evolved over time.

During the final of the first world cup in 1930 there were even two types of balls that were used during each half of the match.

Argentina supplied the ‘Tiento’ during the first half while Uruguay supplied the larger and heavier ‘T-Model’ during the second half.

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The 1954 world cup in Switzerland used a ball called the ‘Swiss World Champion’ which was the first 18 panel ball used in a world cup.

Unfortunately the name of the ball didn’t help the home team as the tournament was won by West Germany, who beat Hungary 3-2 in the final.

After this was the Swedish-designed ‘Top Star’ for the 1958 world cup followed by the Chilean ‘Crack Top Star’ in 1962.

While the Crack Top Star was the official ball referee Ken Aston was unimpressed and had it replaced by a Top Star ball during the second half of the opening match.

Different balls were used at different matches for the remainder of the 1962 world cup.

In 1970 the now iconic black and white 32 panel Adidas ‘Telstar’ made its appearance. Ole!

The 1986 Mexico world cup introduced the ‘Azteca’ which was the first fully synthetic and hand sewn ball used in a world cup.

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Oddly enough the Aztecs themselves had their own version of football which used a heavy stone covered in a thick layer of gum and the matches were even played in purpose built stadiums, unlike the A-League. Very advanced.

The stadiums I mean, not the ball.

At the three most recent world cups the balls have been the 14 panel ‘Teamgeist’ in Germany, the eight panel ‘Jabulani’ in South Africa and the six panel ‘Brazuca’ in Brazil.

None of these recent balls have been without controversy however.

Given all these changes and the mixed reception of the last three in particular maybe FIFA should look at designing a new ball from the ground up.

Portugal captain Cristiano Ronaldo

Instead of being tied to the regulation size and weight maybe they could opt for new specifications optimised for long range shots.

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The International Tennis Federation developed a ball that was six per cent larger in diameter than a regular ball which gave the receiver ten per cent more time to react.

If the reverse is true then maybe a futsal ball would be faster since it has a smaller cross section and would produce less turbulence and knuckling.

This would also bring the outdoor ball into line with the indoor futsal ball which is smaller but has the same weight as the outdoor version.

Or maybe a new ball should be both smaller and lighter weight like a kronum ball.

Whereas a futsal ball is 197.3 mm in diameter and 425.2 grams and an outdoor ball is 215.9 mm and 420 grams a kronum ball is 195.5mm and 296 grams.

A ball that’s both smaller and lighter in weight should make it easier to hit at high speed but this could also make it slow down quickly at range, unless you could add dimples like a golf ball maybe.

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Unfortunately you really need to have some sort of qualifications in aerospace engineering to really know how different balls will react in flight which I don’t have.

I know nothing about physics, I know nothing about lift, thrust, drag, I know nothing about aerodynamic coefficients between different aerofoil surfaces about thrust vectors of engines I don’t know about any of that, haven’t even heard of any of it.

So instead of wildly speculating about what might work the best way to know which ball works best is simply to try different designs in a free kick competition and see which one has the right stuff.

If a ball can be developed from the ground up that’s accurate at high speed from long range then maybe teams won’t be able to just sit back and park the bus.

If long range shots can be made more effective then it could change the game without having to change all the rest of the rules as well.

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