Jabulani

adidas and FIFA presented the adidas Jabulani, the Official Match Ball for the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa to the world on the day of the Final Draw, 4 December 2009, in Cape Town.

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The Jabulani, which means "to celebrate" in isiZulu, features a South African-inspired design and radically new technology. The new match ball became available in retail from 5 December onwards.

The newly developed "Grip'n'Groove" profile provides the best players in the world with a ball allowing an exceptionally stable flight and perfect grip under all conditions.

Comprising only eight, completely new, thermally bonded 3-D panels, which for the first time are spherically moulded, the ball is perfectly round and is claimed to be even more accurate than its predecessors.

The design:

Eleven colours are used in the adidas Jabulani, the 11th adidas World Cup ball. These 11 colours represent the 11 players in every team, the 11 official languages of South Africa and the 11 South African communities that make the country one of the most ethnologically diverse countries on the African continent. The colourful design is designed to bring together the tremendous diversity of the country in harmonious unity. Four triangle-shaped design elements on a white background lend the ball a unique appearance in African spirit. And like the outer facade of Johannesburg's Soccer City Stadium, individual design elements also capture the colourfulness of South Africa.

So what do the players say?

Michael Ballack: "Fantastic, the ball does exactly what I want it to."

Petr Cech: "You can feel the energy coming towards you, like a shot."

Frank Lampard: "A very strong ball, true to hit."

Kaká: "For me, contact with the ball is all-important, and that's just great with this ball."

Grip'n'Groove profile

Aero grooves: Aero grooves create the clearly visible profile on the ball's surface. The Grip'n'Groove profile circles round the entire ball in an optimal aerodynamic way. The integrated grooves provide unmatched flight characteristics, and are said to make this the most stable and most accurate adidas ball ever. The ground-breaking performance features of the adidas Jabulani have been confirmed in comprehensive comparison tests at Loughborough University in England and countless checks in the wind tunnel and the adidas football laboratory in Scheinfeld, Germany.

Grip: Since the introduction of the "goose bumps" surface for the last European Championship ball, the microtexture of the new ball's outer skin has also been given a visible facelift. The Jabulani has a futuristic texture with fantastic grip, designed to give players full control over the ball under all weather conditions.

adidas always involves world-class athletes in the development and testing of its products and for the adidas Jabulani, adidas partnered with AC Milan, FC Bayern München, the Orlando Pirates and Ajax Cape Town when the ball was tested in 2008.

The company is already working on innovations for the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil.

-bizcommunity.com