Made, as ever, by Adidas -
the world's leading Football equipment manufacturer, the Jabulani
ball builds on their years of scientific excellence. With their
history of official FIFA World Cup balls (from Telstar to Teamgeist™)
the balls have improved year on year, though not without attracting
some controversy along the way.
Regular balls are made with 32
hexagonal panels. The Teamgeist for World Cup in Germany 2006 had
only 14 panels. The Jabilani ball has an amazing 8 panels.
Goalies will be happy with the 'grip n
groove' texturing, which is also to aid smooth flight (think golf
balls). It is a heavy ball, and has bonded 3d panels - moulded
spherically to retain shape and create a seamless spehere.
The number 11 carries heavy symbolism
- the tribes of South Africa, the players in a football team. In
honour of this, there are 11 colours used on the ball.
FIFA Standards / Jabulani Ball Stats
|
Feature |
FIFA Reg. |
Jabulini |
Standing |
|
Weight |
420-445 |
440/td> |
Heavy |
|
Circumference |
68.5-69.5cm |
69.0 +/- 0.2 |
Average |
|
Roundness |
1.5% Variance |
1.0% |
Good |
|
Water Absorption |
Max 10% |
0% |
Amazing |
|
Bounce Variance |
10cm |
6cm |
Good |
|
Leakage |
20% from 3 days |
10% |
Excellent |
The table you just saw above shows
that the moulding technique means the ball retains its shape,
and the lack of seaming means there is essentially zero water
retention, which will reduce sluggishness of the ball if South
Africa defies the odds and rains throughout the World Cup.
The weight is interesting - being
towards the higher end of the allowed scale means the flight
will be truer and more predictable making keepers happy, but
also rewarding accuracy for strikers.
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