The History of FIFA World Cup Match Balls

The History of FIFA World Cup Match Balls

Soccer has been played in various forms though out history. We will concentrate on the history and evolution of the soccer ball.

World Cup	Ball(s)	Image	Manufacturer	Additional information
1930				Two different balls were used in the final: Argentina supplied the first-half ball (the 'Tiento') and led 2–1 at the break; hosts Uruguay supplied the second-half ball (the 'T-Model' which was larger and heavier) and won 4–2.
1934	Federale 102		ECAS (Ente Centrale Approvvigionamento Sportivi), Rome
1938			Allen, Paris
1950	Duplo T		Superball
1954	Swiss World Champion		Kost Sport, Basel	The first 18-panel ball.
1958	Top Star		Sydsvenska  Läder och Remfabriken,  Ängelholm(aka "Remmen" or "Sydläder")	Chosen from 102 candidates in a blind test by four FIFA officials.
1962	Crack Top Star		Senor  Custodio Zamora H., San Miguel, Chile Remmen	The Crack was the official ball. Referee Ken Aston was unimpressed with the Chilean ball provided for the opening match, and sent for a European ball, which arrived in the second half. Various matches used different balls, with the apparent rumour the European teams didn't trust the locally produced ball
1966	Challenge 4-star		Slazenger	18-panel ball in orange or yellow. Selected in a blind test at the Football Association headquarters in Soho Square.
1970	Telstar		Adidas	Telstar was the first 32-panel black-and-white ball used in the FIFA World Cup finals. Only 20 were supplied by adidas. A brown ball (Germany-Perù) and a white ball (first half of Italy-Germany) were used in some matches.
1974	Telstar Durlast		Adidas
1978	Tango		Adidas
1982	Tango España		Adidas
1986	Azteca		Adidas	First fully synthetic FIFA World Cup ball and first hand-sewed ball
1990	Etrusco Unico		Adidas
1994	Questra		Adidas
1998	Tricolore		Adidas	First multi-coloured ball at a World Cup finals tournament
2002	Fevernova		Adidas	First World Cup soccer ball with a triangular design.
2006	Teamgeist		Adidas	The Teamgeist is a 14 panel ball. Each match at the World Cup finals had its own individual ball, printed with the date of the match, the stadium and the team names. It was replaced for the final match by the gold-coloured Teamgeist Berlin.
	Teamgeist Berlin
2010	Jabulani		Adidas	This ball has 8 panels. The ball for the final match was the gold Jo'bulani (picture on the left), which was named after "Jo'burg," a standard South African nickname for Johannesburg, site of the final.
	Jo'bulani
2014	Brazuca		Adidas	This is the first FIFA World Cup ball named by the fans. It is expected that there will be a special version for the final, but the name and colour is so far unknown.