The science behind the 2008 Olympic adidas soccer ball
After watching some of the soccer games at the 2008 Olympic games, I was curious as to what it is about the ball that makes it so different. I knew adidas had introduced a new design, but how could that make such a big difference?
If you aren’t familiar with the Teamgeist, or haven’t played with one, you might not be able to tell the difference between the Teamgeist replica and the real Teamgeist.
The first ball in the picture is the Europass version of the Teamgeist replica. As a closer look shows, you can see that the ball is still made in the traditional soccer ball design — 32 panels of hexagon and pentagon shape. The circles and designs are merely painted on to resemble the official ball.
The second ball is the offical matchball from the 2008 European Championship. (The exact same adidas soccer ball is the official ball of the 2008 Olympic Games, just with a different paint scheme.) Notice how this ball has significantly fewer panels. Also notice that the ball doesn’t have seams. Instead, the panels are glued together almost seamlessly, since they are molded to be rounder by design. The replica has seams where the ball is stiched together, causing small indentions between each panel.
But what difference does this make?
After doing some digging, I found this article that discusses the science behind the new design.
Dr. Ken Bray, a sports scientist in England, and author of How to Score: Science and the Beautiful Game discusses how the new design affects the weight and flight of the Teamgeist soccer ball.
“With a very low spin rate, which occasionally happens in football, the panel pattern can have a big influence on the trajectory of the ball and make it more unpredictable for a goalkeeper,” said Dr Bray. Because the Teamgeist ball has just 14 panels it is aerodynamically more similar to the baseball which only has two panels. In baseball, pitchers often throw a ‘curve ball’ which is similar to a swerving free kick and the rotating seam disrupts the air flow around the ball in much the same way as a football does.”
Who knew you needed a PhD is physics to start bending it like Beckham?