How did they come up with the design?
It’s been 15 years since we last saw a
change to the official ball of football’s top league in Italy, so what better
time than now? Serie A announced that Adidas and Infostrada Sports will be
tasked with designing next year’s model, which is set to debut on January 8th,
2018. The countdown began today with a livestream press conference in Milan
featuring several legends of Italian football: Gianluigi Buffon, Giuseppe
Bergomi, Diego Maradona and Paolo Rossi.
The main features
The ball will be a tri-colour and will
have a light blue horizontal band, with two red and green perpendicular bands.
The colours were inspired by Italy’s flag and evoke elegance, solidity and
pride. The TPU casing is made of six panels that are welded together at a
compression molding machine in order to create one solid piece. This new
technology makes it possible to create optimum shape consistency along each of
its surfaces, regardless of external factors like weather conditions or
lighting conditions when playing. This means that every single ball meets
strict criteria no matter where or when it’s used during matches. The ball also
has an external skin with a satin finish on top with a smooth touch sensation,
giving players optimal control over it at all times even under wet conditions.
What do you think?
The new ball, made by Nike and called
Giulianova after a town in central Italy, will be used from next season. It has
been designed to help reduce instances of poor officiating that has marred
recent seasons, including inaccurate goal-line decisions. When dropped on a
surface it bounces around less erratically and returns to a stable position
more quickly than its predecessor, making it easier for officials to make their
calls. The ball is also said to travel faster and farther than previous models,
while maintaining its roundness when kicked.