The world of high-tech electronic gadgetry found its way into soccer balls, but didn’t stay long. Beginning in 2003, Adidias and the German Cairos Technologies Company worked out a new “smart” soccer ball containing a microchip sensor that allowed a computer to track the location of the ball on the field. The idea was hatched to reduce the number of bad calls made by referees and the bad behavior of fans after those bad calls. Similar to Instant Replay used at NFL games, the smart soccer ball was hoped to provide instant accuracy on close or disputed referee rulings. However, real world testing has proven otherwise for the time being.
Adidas introduced the new product as the Teamgeist soccer all and tested it in 2005 at the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) World Cup in Peru. The technology inside the ball was durable and highly accurate, but did not prove indispensable because the only tracking capability applied was the determination of whether or not the soccer ball had crossed the goal line. With only a few goals per team scored in a typical game, the technology was not really needed and certainly didn’t change the results of any calls at the goal. At the time, Adidas and the FIFA were planning to utilize the Teamgeist at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, but the electronic tracking system inside the soccer ball was scrapped after testing at the Peru matches. The soccer ball was approved for international play by FIFA but no word has been released on when the system will be tested publicly again.
The ball was re-launched with a plus sign (+) in front of the name and appeared at the 2006 World Cup in Germany as the Adidas +Teamgeist soccer ball. Even without the electronics inside it, the +Teamgeist is still probably the most modern soccer ball ever produced. The +Teamgeist claims to be the roundest soccer ball ever produced thanks to its 14 bonded-panel construction. Adidas had been the official supplier of standard 32 stitched-panel World Cup soccer balls since 1970 and the 2006 matches marked the first time a 14-panel, thermo-bonded ball had been employed in World Cup soccer. The bonded construction used on the +Teamgeist is claimed to deliver more consistent trajectory and overall performance while being the most waterproof soccer ball ever.
The +Teamgeist match soccer balls used at the 2006 World Cup were also some of the most modern looking soccer balls ever used, with the name of the stadium, the teams, the date and the kick-off time of each game printed right on each soccer ball. Adidas delivered over 2,000 +Teamgeist match balls to FIFA with each of the 32 member federations receiving 40 match balls for training.
Not everyone was immediately sold on the +Teamgeist soccer ball however, fewer panels means fewer seams, and that characteristic can make the ball bounce unpredictably when it is not spinning. Like a knuckleball pitch in baseball, the +Teamgeist has frustrated a few goalies with its flight characteristics. Some World Cup players claimed the ball was too light and had a vastly different performance when wet. Some criticized the soccer ball for having a slippery feel. The Albanian National Team even tried to blame some of their Cup match losses on the +Teamgeist.
The +Teamgeist soccer ball has proven very popular with the rest of the world though, as the ball now sells briskly in a dozen different varieties ranging from inexpensive practice soccer balls up to full-blown international tournament versions. As the world’s leading manufacturer of soccer balls, Adidas estimates they will sell over 10 million FIFA World Cup match soccer balls alone. With Adidas being the official soccer ball supplier for FIFA, the +Teamgeist will also be present at the 2010 World Cup. The only question now is whether or not it will contain electronics at that date.
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