The Return of ADIDAS Telstar

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In 2018 in Russia players will be kicking the new Adidas Telstar 18, a reimagining of the first Telstar ball used in 1970 in Mexico which was the first official World Cup ball. Here’s the evolution of the football in the past 48 years and how the Telstar 18 came to be.

Telstar: Mexico 1970

Named after the Telstar satellite, this was the first World Cup ball that featured the legendary Buckminster design with 32 hand-stitched panels – 12 black pentagons and 20 white hexagons – which created the roundest spherical ball at the time.

Telstar Durlast: West Germany 1974

There were no technological advancements since the previous Telstar. They changed the golden branding to black though.

Tango Durlast: Argentina 1978

The same Buckminster style was used in Argentina, with 32 leather panels, but the marking design included 20 panels with black triads creating an optical impression of 12 identical circles.

Tango Espana: Spain 1982

This football introduced a new production technology, a rubber coating over the seams, which made Tango Espana the first water-resistant ball. It was also the last leather World Cup ball.

Azteca: Mexico 1986

This was the first synthetic polyurethane football which was rain-resistant. It could retain its good qualities on wet surfaces. It was also the first ball with a design inspired by the host nation.

Etrusco: Italy 1990

A high-tech football manufactured with the highest quality synthetic fibres. Latex impregnated textiles, neoprene coating and an internal layer of polyurethane foam allowed better form stability and water-resistance.

Questra: USA 1994

This was the first ball that had an outer layer of polystyrene foam. This improved the ball’s waterproof qualities and gave the ball better acceleration and velocity during play.

Tricolore: France 1998

This ball ended the traditional black and white design. As the name suggests, the design was inspired by the colours of the French flag. It also had a thin layer of syntactic foam which gave the ball better rebound characteristics and made it even faster than the Questra.

Fevernova: Korea/Japan 2002

This football had thicker inner layers and improved syntactic foam coating which gave the ball a more precise and predictable flight path.

Teamgeist: Germany 2006

The Buckminster style was now history. A revolutionary propeller design was used reducing seams, ridges and corners to a minimum. This made the ball perfectly round for better accuracy and control.

Jabulani: South Africa 2010

The Jabulani introduced the new grip ‘n’ groove technology and was made by thermally bonding 8 3D panels which further improved the ball’s accuracy and control.

Brazuca: Brazil 2014

The Brazuca had a unique symmetry of six identical panels and a new surface structure improving the ball’s grip, stability and aerodynamics.

Telstar 18: Russia 2018

This is the first smart football with an NFC chip for an interactive experience with the fans. Each ball for this World Cup has a unique identifier giving you exclusive content and information on your smartphone.

This makes placing a bet even more exciting and fun, giving you in-depth details of the match play and a more immersive experience.

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