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People talking balls at international football tournaments is as old as inflating pigs’ bladders, and sometimes just as attractive.
But it is slightly unusual for people to talk as much about the ball as they have about the Adidas Fussballliebe Pro EURO 2024 match ball, to give it its full name, as they have in Germany of late.
The last ball to attract this much attention was the Adidas Jabulani, the official ball at the 2010 World Cup, but while that thermally bonded lump of polyurethane was loathed, this one is loved.
After 36 group-stage games, 15 of the 81 goals were scored from outside the box, most of them absolutely leathered in. Nearly one in five, then, the highest ratio at a European Football Championship since 1992. Unsurprisingly, the strikers like it.
“It’s quick,” England’s Harry Kane reported. “When you strike it, it stays hit.”
And for those of you asking “How would he know?”, I think we can assume he has hit a few in practice.
Harry Kane is a fan of the Euro 2024 match ball (Ozan Kose/AFP via Getty Images)
But, unlike the Jabulani, which behaved like the plastic balls usually sold at the seaside, goalkeepers do not seem to mind this ball, either.
“I’ve not heard any goalkeeper complain about the ball, other than saying it’s a really, really quick ball, which is something you just deal with,” said the former Denmark and Manchester United goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel, whose son Kasper is the current Danish No 1.
“The ball in South Africa (in 2010) was moving all over the place when somebody headed it — sometimes it made the goalkeeper look stupid. But when it’s quick, as long as it’s reliable and follows a path, it’s not a problem.
“Normally, when you have a new ball, the opinions are divided but (goalkeepers) don’t think it’s a bad ball. From their perspective, they want to know they can trust it.
“Oh, it’s also brilliant to kick; absolutely fantastic. You can get distance and accuracy on it.”
Even the referees seem to like it. Or more accurately — in every sense — they like the microchip located in the middle of the ball.
Held in place by a patented suspension system, the “inertial measurement unit” uses artificial intelligence and highly sensitive sensors to capture and send precise ball data to the video assistant referee (VAR) in real-time.
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In a presentation to the media after the group stage had finished, UEFA’s chief refereeing officer, Roberto Rosetti, explained how the “combined ball technology” had played a crucial role in three big VAR decisions and was a key ingredient in the semi-automatic offside technology (SAOT) system being quicker, more accurate and easy to illustrate than un-chipped VAR. It was called upon again last night when Denmark’s Joachim Andersen was shown to have handled in his area, giving Germany a penalty.
By far the most significant intervention, though. was the decision to disallow what looked like a late Romelu Lukaku equaliser for Belgium against Slovakia. Unfortunately for Belgium, Lukaku’s team-mate Lois Openda made history in the build-up by becoming the first footballer to fall foul of what cricket lovers know as “snicko”, the heartbeat-like graph that spikes when a ball clips a bat or, in this case, a hand.
You might think this would mean Openda hates the Adidas Fussballliebe, or “love of football” in German, but even the RB Leipzig striker sounded pretty philosophical about it after the game, saying: “It happens.”
But how exactly does it happen?
“The sensor in the ball is incredibly sophisticated technology — it’s tuned to provide an unprecedented level of insight into every element of the ball’s movement,” Marc Makowski, senior vice president of creative direction and innovation at Adidas, tells The Athletic.
“For every touch of the ball, the connected technology registers the exact time point within a precision of two milliseconds. This is a crucial element to the technology, which helps to detect offsides, handballs and penalty incidents.”
And rockets, screamers and worldies.
According to data just released by Adidas’ marketing department, Erik Janza’s 77th-minute blast for Slovenia against Denmark was the most powerfully struck goal at Euro 2024 so far, flying in from 24 metres at a speed of 129kmph (80mph).
The most powerful shot, however, was hit by the Czech Republic’s David Jurasek against Turkey. He struck his effort at a rate of 136kmph, just short of 85mph.
The goal from the greatest distance belongs to Denmark’s Morten Hjulmand, who was 28 metres out, or 31 yards, when he scored against England.
Does anyone have any complaints… at all?
“All the goalkeepers have said they’re struggling to get any grip on it, especially if it’s wet,” says Schmeichel.
“Some of the glove manufacturers have really tried to get some grip but they’ve not been able to. So what you’ll see is a lot of goalkeepers pushing shots wide. They’re not trying to catch them because of the risk that it will slip between your hands.
“We really saw that with (Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi) Donnarumma in the Spain v Italy game. He was brilliant, but he didn’t try to catch the ball; he was just pushing it away.”
Gianluigi Donnarumma made a point of parrying saves against Spain (Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images)
That does not really sound like a complaint, though, does it? More of a gap in the market for Adidas to fill.
And more parried shots? Sounds like more goals to me. Great!
But while this is all great fun — and even better advertising — “combined ball technology” is not actually new. It was used at the last men’s World Cup in Qatar in 2022 and then again at the Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand a year later.
The ball, however, is new.
Its core is made from natural rubber (football moved on from animal innards a while back) and outer layers are made of polyester fabric, corn fibres, wood pulp and sugar cane. You could almost eat it.
According to Adidas, the ball was subjected to all the usual testing in its labs and wind tunnels, and was “blind-tested” by grassroots and professional clubs. If you scored the greatest goal of your career with an unmarked ball recently, now you know why.
Kylian Mbappe practises with the Euro 2024 match ball at France’s pre-tournament training camp (Franck Fife/AFP via Getty Images)
In terms of the ball’s aesthetics, it’s fine. It is not a design classic, like the Tango or Telstar, or even Nike’s Total 90 Aerow (the yellow and blue one that always makes me think of Thierry Henry), but it is perfectly presentable. One nice touch is that the tournament’s 10 host cities are named on the ball.
Is it worth the €150 it is retailing for in the official merchandise stalls? Of course not. That is why you can already find it for €100 online.
Oh, and that is just for the ball, by the way. The microchip, artificial intelligence, 47 cameras and so on are extra. You even have to blow it up yourself.
“At Adidas, we will continue to use innovation and technology to create the best for the athlete and sport performance, on and off the pitch,” says Makowski. “We never stand still with our innovations. We keep testing them, pushing them to breaking point, and perfecting them to understand how they can best support the athletes.
“For now we are focused on how we work with organisations like UEFA and FIFA to apply the data in a way that improves the matchday experience, but I can confidently say that the future of the connected ball technology is bright and we’re not finished with it yet.”
It’s OK, Marc, we didn’t think you would be. After all, there was nothing wrong with the Telstar but that did not stop you.
Additional reporting: Charlotte Harpur
(Top photos: Getty Images)