2006

The ball that we kick to the Opening Ceremony of the World Cup is always the official World Cup ball for that tournament. If we’d had the idea in 1974, these are the balls we’d have been kicking:

1974: TELSTAR

According to FIFA, this was the first ball with 32 black and white panels to make it more visible on black and white television screens.

1978: TANGO

Supposedly a more design representing “elegance, dynamism and passion”!

1982: TANGO

This ball’s innovation was its waterproof design.

1986: AZTECA

The first synthetic match ball

1990: ETRUSCO

The first ball with an internal layer of foam

1994: QUESTRA

Designed to fly faster through the air

1998: TRICOLORE

The first multi-coloured ball

2002: FEVERNOVA

Radical restyling

2006: TEAMGEIST

Apparently this is the most accurate ball to date — the seams on the official ball (not the replica pictured here) are flush to the surface and should cause less air turbulence as it flys

Here’s another report, this time from the Thüringer Allgemeine (UPDATE: you can find the original German article here):
Globetrotter with football
The most attractive spin-off from next year’s world championship has got better still. Christian Wach, from England, proclaims the spirit of football and in Erfurt he met plenty of soulmates.
Instead of a diplomatic passport he has [...]

Here’s a copy of some coverage that we (both Spirits of Football) were given recently in the Thüringer Landes Zeitung. Many thanks to John Taylor for a translation of the article. (UPDATE: you can find the original German article here)
“The Ball” on the Petersberg
At the Olympics it’s the blazing torch that’s carried across the world [...]

Okay, so The Ball — or The Spirit of Football to give it its full title here on this site — has been unveiled. This is a replica of the mind-bogglingly expensive official ball, but anyway this is what it looks like, folks. Its name is Teamgeist, which translates as Team Spirit and makes me wonder if someone at adidas is coming round to our way of thinking… they’ve got the word “spirit” in it after all. Only another three words to get in there and it’ll have converged completely. Can’t wait to start kicking it!

Andrew Aris of the Spirit-of-Football

I’ve just arrived back from a week in Germany, where I met up with the good folks at the other Spirit-of-Football in Erfurt. It’s the World Cup draw later on today — which should include the announcement of The Ball for 2006 — and I’m really starting to feel the gathering momentum towards a feast of football.

What a great project Andrew’s in the process of setting up — check out the video interview with Andrew (Quicktime required) to find out what it’s all about.

UPDATE: Andrew has just been signed professionally by Rot Weiß Erfurt! Congratulations Andrew, can we have you on our side please?

 

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