Adidas Teamgeist Football
by Herr NeilAs with any major soccer event, Adidas, official ball supplier to FIFA since 1970, have taken the opportunity to unleash their latest miracle of sphericacity, to be seen the world over this summer in Germany at the feet of such football legends as the outrageous Stern John and the industrious Harry Kewell.
This year sees the launch of ‘Teamgeist’ (meaning team spirit) a football so round, scientists have had to increase the number of degrees in a circle from 360 to 450 to accommodate it’s roundedness.
The stars at Real Madrid have already come to know and appreciate this extreme precision in a spell of intensive testing. “Just using it in training, all the players at Real Madrid have been impressed,” says midfielder David Beckham. The England captain is hugely impressed with the ball’s flight and direction. “With the ball’s movement, it doesn’t go off everywhere, it goes where you want it to go and that’s important. Your passing, controlling and shooting of the ball - it’s in one direction and that’s what you need.” Added Becks, giving up his last remaining excuse for fluffing penalties and free kicks this summer.
Made from the hide of only pure-bred, genetically engineered, six-month old ‘silk-skin’ cows and stitched together by laser guided nanobots, with it’s super-smooth surface, the Teamgeist ball is capable of rolling across surfaces as diverse as grass and concrete (pebbles permitting). Religious members have criticised the pure roundness of the ball, citing it as, “an affront to God and/or the work of the Devil.”
It’s unique 14 panel construction reduces the amount of three-panel touch points by 60 per cent and the total length of the panel lines by over 15 per cent. The radical design will no doubt increase the amount of time spent by commentators talking about how footballs these days are like beach balls and bear little resemblance to the footballs that they used in their playing days.
The ball will be used in all FIFA tournaments until 2008, when a slightly rounder and shinier ball is expected to replace it.
The new Teamgeist ball, at a press conference in December.
February 1st, 2006 at 3:16 pm
How big is it?
February 1st, 2006 at 4:07 pm
How big is it? It’s already got 2 magazines, a comic book, day time TV show (Mittagessen mit Teamspirit) and a plethora of fan sites devoted to it.
February 1st, 2006 at 4:34 pm
Thank you.
February 2nd, 2006 at 11:27 am
Does it float?
February 2nd, 2006 at 2:08 pm
In water, yes.
In air, no.
Other substances available on request. Subject to availability.
February 2nd, 2006 at 2:41 pm
Lightly salted potassium permanganate?
February 2nd, 2006 at 3:01 pm
Given that potassium permanganate is a solid at room temperature and working under the assumption that a light amount of salt would have negligible effect on the potassium permanganate, I would say the new Adidas Teamgeist Football would not sink when placed upon some lightly salted potassium permanganate.
February 3rd, 2006 at 11:12 am
Is the ball available in taupe?
February 3rd, 2006 at 11:58 am
No, the ball is not available in taupe.
The black and white colour scheme was chosen to honour the hosts of the tournament (as Germany play in white and black) and the gold touches are symbolic of the World Cup trophy itself, for it is made out of gold.
Unless a special ball is commissioned after the tournament for a team who play in taupe, then your only choice is to buy one and paint it taupe yourself with some sort of latex based emulsion.
February 6th, 2006 at 12:31 pm
How high does it bounce?
February 6th, 2006 at 3:12 pm
Depends on bounce surface, inflation levels mostly. Assuming one is dropping the ball at sea level in an atmosphere composed of approximately 80% nitrogen, 20% oxygen.
Under optimum PSI and bouncing on a level concrete surface, I would say it bounces at 40% of drop height, assuming the ball is dropped, not thrown.
February 7th, 2006 at 12:28 am
So we have an excuse for fluffing the penalty shoot out in the quarter finals, those bloody German balls…
February 7th, 2006 at 10:41 am
Is the World Cup being played on concrete?
February 7th, 2006 at 12:38 pm
No Wes. The World Cup will be played on grass, unless the Germans don’t get their stadia finished in time, in which case some games may well be played in the adjoining car parks, which I believe are laid with asphalt, which to all intents and purposes is identical to concrete.
February 7th, 2006 at 2:03 pm
What is the ball’s water retention level?
February 7th, 2006 at 2:42 pm
Please find details of adidas’ stringent water tests below…
Water absorption test:
A wet and heavy ball behaves quite differently from a dry one. It flies through the air more slowly, has a low bounce and is more difficult to curl. adidas’ patented Thermal Bonding technology makes a football virtually waterproof. As a result the new Match Ball shows completely homogenous performance characteristics when playing in dry or wet conditions.
For the water absorption test, the ball is pressed and rotated in a container of water 250 times, after which the ball will be weighed. The water will also be weighed before and after the water uptake test.
FIFA Approved Standard: Water absorption: no more than 10% weight increase
The adidas +Teamgeist™: Water absorption: no more than 0,1 % weight increase
February 9th, 2006 at 1:47 pm
Does it hurt when the Teamgeist hits you in the face?
February 10th, 2006 at 8:16 am
Depends how hard the Teamgeist is kicked at you really. No more so than a regular FIFA approved football. And certainly a lot less than those all rubber moulded pimply footballs your school used to have which stung like an Africanised killer bee dipped in battery acid when kicked hard against your bare thigh on a cold Monday morning by Philip Granger, the school hard case.
March 7th, 2006 at 10:43 am
Is the Teamgeist approved by Tony the Tiger?
March 7th, 2006 at 11:31 am
If by Tony the Tiger, you mean Tony the Frosties Tiger, Kelloggs mascot for their frosted flakes of corn cereal commonly known as ‘Frosties’, then the answer is irrelevant.
Tony had his sporting goods approval licence revoked by the Confederated Cereal Mascot Alliance in 2004 following his approval of an American football destined for the Sub-Saharan African market which was found to not only be made in an illegal Bangladeshi sweatshop, but was found to contain dangerous amounts of carbon monoxide, benzene, glass and 4 chemicals banned for use in household goods by the UN.
Tony cannot apply for a new licence for 20 years, and as such cannot endorse, approve or ‘get behind’ any sporting tool, utensil, object, event or thing until that time.
Tony can appeal to the CCMA against the ruling in 2014, although Tony has publicly stated he has little hope of overturning the ban.
If you mean a different Tony the Tiger, then I’m afraid you’ll have to contact him directly for information on his Adidas Teamgeist approval status. Neither FIFA, Adidas or World Cup Hippo keep records of who does or does not approve the Adidas Teamgeist football.
June 29th, 2006 at 2:44 am
If,you play with this ball on concret will the ball get scraches ?
June 29th, 2006 at 8:26 am
It depends on how rough the concrete is really. Loose debris, how hard you’re kicking the ball, stray bits of litter, how rough your shoes are, all of these will probably contribute to scratches.
Beware of course that there are two versions of the Teamgeist+ ball available at retailers worldwide. The ~£50 ball which is what Lampard and co have been blazing over crossbars this summer and the cheaper ~£15 ball which looks identical, but isn’t made to as high standards. The expensive one would probably fair better on concrete, but at £50, I wouldn’t want to take the risk.
June 29th, 2006 at 1:54 pm
Wow thats like 129$ gone to wast if so
June 29th, 2006 at 4:09 pm
Will that ball ever be cheaper?
July 4th, 2006 at 1:13 pm
Yes. You can probably expect a reduction after the tournament ends and again in two years time when Adidas bring out the Euro 2008 ball.
July 11th, 2006 at 7:22 pm
How does the fact that the ball is thermomoulded help with the accuracy of the players and do you think that the game has been improved my the use of this football?
July 12th, 2006 at 11:49 am
The thermomoulding, as far as I understand it, eliminates the need for stitching.
In essence if you kick a stitched ball on the stitches it behaves minutely differently to if you kick it square on a panel. By removing the stitches, you create greater uniformity of kicking, and in theory, greater accuracy.
Football designers are tying to create a perfectly spherical ball, and by eliminating things like stitches, ‘touch points’, excess water retention etc, they hope to one day achieve that goal.
In time, the players will adapt to the new ball and the quality of football will imperceptibly improve.
Personally I believe that if FIFA do want to introduce a new football, at the start of a major tournament is not the time to do it as teams won’t have enough time to get used to the ball.
July 12th, 2006 at 1:06 pm
What do you think the ball should be like for the 2010 World Cup?