1863 - 1872:
- There was no specification in place regarding the shape or size of the ball.
- Pigs bladders were used; as a result, their dimensions were incredibly inconsistent. These could often determined by the shape and size of the animal itself.
- Many of these footballs were closer in shape to rugby balls.
- This resulted in unpredictable outcomes.
- Introduction of rubber inner-tubes in 1972 enabled footballs to become increasingly spherical. This led to greater consistency and fairer games.
1930 World Cup:
- In the first ever World Cup final, Uruguay and Argentina could not agree on which ball should be used for the match. As a result, an impasse was reached and they agreed to use both.
- The Argentinian ball was used in the 1st half - Argentina led 2-1 at the break.
- The Uruguayan ball was used in the 2nd half - Uruguay won the game 4-2.
- Uruguay's choice of ball was larger and heavier and was known as the T-Model.
- It was a very entertaining 90 minutes, but many football historians believe that the outcome was determined by the choice of ball.
- Every ball was sewn by hand and, therefore, was unique.
1960s Onwards - Synthetic Footballs:
- The Buckminster's black and white design is one of the most famous footballs worldwide
- It consisted of 12 pentagons and 20 hexagons.
- Synthetic material absorbed far less moisture than previous incarnations.
- It was used as the first official World Cup ball in 1970.
- Some players claimed that it was harder to control than the older leather footballs, and it wasn't universally welcomed at first.
- It was credited with helping to create one of the most exciting tournaments in the history of the game and producing some of the greatest World Cup goals of all time.
1994 World Cup:
- Adidas introduced the Questra following a low-scoring tournament.
- FIFA were hoping it would lead to more excitement after Italia '90, which averaged just 2.21 goals per match.
- The ball was easier to control, faster, and far more responsive than previous models.
- There were 26 more goals than at the previous World Cup, making it the highest-scoring tournament since 1982.
- It was later used in La Liga during the mid-to-late 1990s.
2006 World Cup:
- The Teamgeist ball was introduced for the tournament in Germany.
- It was the first ball to be personalised with the date, time, and venue of the game in question.
- It has an unpredictable flight when airbourne, and many goalkeepers were reportedly unhappy with the new design.
- It resulted in speculative strikes as it had the tendency to swerve and dip in mid-air. Germany benefitted on a couple of occasions from this.
- Goalkeeper Oliver Kahn said it was "built in favour of strikers".
- There were 147 goals throughout the tournament
2010 World Cup:
- The Jubulani remains one of the most controversial designs in the history of the World Cup.
- It has a decreased number of panels, making it more spherical than previous models.
- It was built to improve aerodynamics, but goalkeepers objected due to its unpredictability.
- It caused a low-scoring group stage; there were fewer goals than in the three previous tournaments.
- Despite some early criticism, it was used in the Bundesliga during the 2010-2011 campaign.
