List of FIFA World Cup official match balls

This is a list of the official match balls for the FIFA World Cup finals tournaments.

From the 1970 FIFA World Cup, different official match balls have been used by FIFA.^[1][2][3]

List

Edition	Match ball		Manufacturer	Additional information	Refs
1930	Tiento (1st half) T-Model (2nd half)	Tiento T-Model	—	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)[4] and won 4–2.	[4][5]
1934	Federale 102		ECAS (Ente Centrale Approvvigionamento Sportivi), Rome		[6]
1938	Allen		Allen, Paris	Made up of leather, consisted of 13 panels and had white cotton laces on a separate, thin panel.	[7]
1950	Duplo T		Superball	First ball to have no laces and introduce the syringe valve.	[8]
1954	Swiss World Champion		Kost Sport, Basel	The first 18-panel ball.	[5][9]
1958	Top Star		Sydsvenska Läder och Remfabriken, Ängelholm (aka "Remmen" or "Sydläder")	Chosen from 102 candidates in a blind test by four FIFA officials.	[10][11]
1962	Crack		Señor 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.[4]	[4][5][10][12]
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.	[5][13]
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-Peru) and a white ball (first half of Italy-Germany) were used in some matches.	[5][14]
1974	Telstar Durlast			The first polyurethane coated ball, making it waterproof and resistant to wear and tear.	[5]
1978	Tango			The first of a family of footballs that was also used in the UEFA European Championships and the Summer Olympics until 1988.	[5]
1982	Tango España			Similar to its predecessor the Tango the Tango España had a polyurethane coating. It had new and improved rubberized seams and was the last leather ball to be used in the World Cup.	[5]
1986	Azteca			First fully synthetic FIFA World Cup ball and first hand-sewed ball	[5]
1990	Etrusco Unico				[5]
1994	Questra[15]				[5]
1998	Tricolore			First multi-coloured ball at a World Cup finals tournament.	[5]
1999 (women)	Icon			First ball specifically created for a Women's World Cup. Technically identical to the Tricolore, but with a different visual design.	[16][17]
2002	Fevernova			First World Cup ball with a triangular design. The ball for the 2003 Women's World Cup was technically identical to the Fevernova, but had a different visual design.[18]	[5]
2006	Teamgeist			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.[19] A special variant, the gold-coloured Teamgeist Berlin, was used in the final match. As in 2003, the ball used for the 2007 Women's World Cup was identical in performance to the ball used in the previous year's World Cup, but with a different visual design.[20]	[5]
	Teamgeist Berlin
2010	Jabulani			This ball has 8 panels. A special variant was used for the final match, the gold Jabulani (picture on the left), which was named after "Jo'burg", a standard South African nickname for Johannesburg, site of the final game. The ball was notable for the controversy it attracted, with players and fans contending that its aerodynamics were unusually unpredictable.	[5][21]
	Jo'bulani
2011 (women)	SpeedCell			Technically identical to the Jabulani, but with a different visual design.	[22]
2014	Brazuca			This is the first FIFA World Cup ball named by the fans. The ball has been made of six polyurethane panels which have been thermally bonded. For the final game, a different colour scheme was used, featuring green, gold and black.	[23]
	Brazuca Final Rio
2015 (women)	Conext 15			Based on the technology introduced in the Brazuca. The Conext15 Final Vancouver is the first ball created specifically for a Women's World Cup final.	[24]
	Conext 15 Final Vancouver
2018	Telstar 18			For the 48 matches in the Group stage, teams competed with a ball designed in tribute to the original Adidas Telstar, used in the 1970 and 1974 World Cups.[25]	[26]
	Telstar Mechta			At the end of the 2018 World Cup group stage, FIFA revealed a new color scheme to be used for the 16 matches played in the knockout stage: the Telstar Mechta (Мечта). Mechta means 'dream' or 'ambition' in Russian.	[27]
2019 (women)	Conext 19			Used for 36 matches in the group stage. It shares the same seamless, mono-panel design as the Telstar 18, but with a glitched graphic that's inspired by the Tricolore ball that was used in the 1998 FIFA World Cup.[28]	[29]
	Tricolore 19			Inspired by the Tricolore ball and based on the same template as the Conext 19, the Tricolore 19 ball features a mono-panel aesthetic with a blue-and-red glitch graphic. This ball was used in the knockout stage.
2022	Al Rihla			The ball was designed with sustainability as a priority, making it the first ever official match ball created with water-based glues and inks. The name of the ball, Al Rihla, means 'the journey' or 'the excursion' in Arabic. Two Al Rihla match balls went on a suborbital mission onboard SpaceX's Falcon 9's first stage booster before being used in the World Cup on 15 October 2022.[30] For the final four matches, a different color scheme was used featuring burgundy and gold—the colors of Qatar and the World Cup. Its name Al Hilm means 'the dream' in Arabic.
	Al Hilm
2023 (women)	Oceaunz			The official match ball used during the early stages of the FIFA Women's World Cup, this ball stands out with graphics that reflect the importance of Australia and New Zealand's spectacular coastlines and life-sustaining lakes and waterways. Oceaunz features the same connected ball technology as was seen in Qatar at the 2022 FIFA World Cup. This provides precise ball data, which will be made available to video match officials in real-time. For the final four matches, a different color scheme is used featuring orange and gold, reflecting the sunsets across the Sydney skyline, where the final was held.	[31]
	Oceaunz Final Pro				[32]

See also

• List of UEFA European Championship official match balls
• List of Copa América official match balls
• List of CONCACAF Gold Cup official match balls
• List of Africa Cup of Nations official match balls
• List of AFC Asian Cup official match balls
• List of Olympic Football official match balls

References

1. "Official match balls of the FIFA World Cup". FIFA.com. 26 June 2021. Archived from the original on 3 October 2015.
2. "FIFA World Cup Balls. Football Balls Database". Football-Balls.com. 26 June 2021.
3. "Al Rihla: FIFA World Cup 2022 Ball Name, Design & Price". BelieveInOurGame. 12 May 2022. Retrieved 5 July 2022.
4. Classic Footballs. The Blizzard. 1 September 2012. ISBN 978-1908940063.
5. "FIFA World Cup official match balls". Football Facts. FIFA. Archived from the original on 28 November 2013. Retrieved 17 September 2011.
6. Matteo, Renato. ""Federale 102". 1934 Italia World Cup Ball" (in Spanish). balones-oficiales.com. Archived from the original on 22 May 2013. Retrieved 17 September 2011.
7. ""Allen". 1938 France World Cup Ball" (in Spanish and English). balones-oficiales.com. Archived from the original on 2 April 2012. Retrieved 17 September 2011.
8. ""Super Duplo T". 1950 Brazil World Cup Official Matchball" (in Spanish and English). balones-oficiales.com. Archived from the original on 2 April 2012. Retrieved 17 September 2011.
9. "1954 Switzerland World Cup Official Matchball" (in Spanish and English). balones-oficiales.com. Archived from the original on 19 August 2011. Retrieved 17 September 2011.
10. Norlin, Arne (2008). "Bollen "Made in Sweden"". 1958: När Folkhemmet Fick Fotbolls-VM (in Swedish). Malmo: Ross & Tegner. pp. 130–6. ISBN 978-91-976144-8-1.
11. "Top Star 1958" (in Spanish and English). balones-oficiales.com. Archived from the original on 2 April 2012. Retrieved 17 September 2011.
12. Matteo, Renato (11 June 2010). ""Crack". 1962 Chile World Cup Official Matchball". balones-oficiales.com. Archived from the original on 2 April 2012. Retrieved 17 September 2011.
13. Matteo, Renato (11 June 2010). ""Slazenger Challenge 4-star". 1966 England World Cup Official Matchball". balones-oficiales.com. Archived from the original on 2 December 2013. Retrieved 17 September 2011.
14. Brown balls are visible in Getty Images photos of matches in the Estadio Nou Camp, León, Guanajuato:

    • #80752641 (West Germany v. England)
    • #79662284 (Bulgaria v. Morocco)
    • #81345734 (Peru v. West Germany)
    • #80752534 (Peru v. Morocco)
15. football World – Adidas Questra (Accessed 9 June 2006)
16. "Adidas Equipment Icon". SoccerBallWorld.com. Retrieved 29 December 2016.
17. "69 days to go" (Press release). FIFA. 29 March 2015. Archived from the original on 29 March 2015. Retrieved 8 June 2015.
18. "Official World Cup Fevernova Soccer Ball". SoccerBallWorld.com. Retrieved 29 December 2016.
19. football World – Team Geist (Accessed 9 June 2006)
20. "The History of the Official World Cup Match Balls". SoccerBallWorld.com. 29 December 2016.
21. "The adidas JABULANI – Official Match Ball for the final of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa". FIFA. Archived from the original on 23 April 2010. Retrieved 17 September 2011.
22. "Official Women's World Cup Match Ball: SpeedCell". SoccerBallWorld.com. Retrieved 29 December 2016.
23. "adidas Brazuca – Name of Official Match Ball decided by Brazilian fans". FIFA. Archived from the original on 5 September 2012. Retrieved 3 September 2012.
24. "adidas unveils Official Match Ball for the Final of the FIFA Women's World Cup 2015" (Press release). FIFA. 7 June 2015. Archived from the original on 9 June 2015. Retrieved 8 June 2015.
25. Liao, George (21 June 2018). "Ball loses air in four incidents since World Cup kicked off". Taiwan News. Retrieved 24 June 2018.
26. "2018 FIFA World Cup official match ball unveiled: an exciting re-imagining" (Press release). FIFA. 9 November 2017. Archived from the original on 9 November 2017. Retrieved 9 November 2017.
27. "adidas Football Reveals Official Match Ball for the Knockout Stage of the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia". 2018 FIFA World Cup. 26 June 2018. Retrieved 1 July 2018.
28. "adidas Launch The 2019 Women's World Cup Ball". SoccerBible. Retrieved 9 November 2019.
29. "Official ball for France 2019 Knockout phase unveiled". FIFA. Retrieved 9 November 2019.
30. "From Orbit To Kick-off | Starlink x FIFA". Starlink. Retrieved 13 December 2022.
31. "Official Match Ball for the FIFA Women's World Cup 2023 unveiled by adidas". FIFA. 24 January 2023.
32. Odedra, Renuka (14 August 2023). "adidas unveil 2023 Women's World Cup Oceaunz final match ball". Goal.com. Retrieved 14 August 2023.

External links

• The First World Cup Ball
• The History of the official World Cup match balls