The Champions League Final Match Ball, and Other Infamous Semi-Spheres

On Thursday, UEFA revealed the 2013 Champions League Final match ball to be used during the showdown between Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich later this month.

Named the “Wembley Finale,” the ball incorporates bold purples, yellows and blues and recognizes the historic stadium’s previous six European Cup finals on several of its panels.

The pattern Adidas uses for its Champions League ball differs little from year to year, but there have been some controversial, even downright dysfunctional balls in the past—and even one that has yet to be used is coming under significant criticism.

Let's take a quick look at two such balls—one which helped define the competition it was used in and another that is threatening to do the same.

Jabulani

Former England manager Fabio Capello famously called the Jabulani the worst ball he has ever seen.

Designed for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, the Jabulani was criticized for being wobbly and unpredictable and took on considerable blame for the lack of goals—particularly goals from distance—at the tournament.

Even NASA chimed in on the matter after testing the Jabulani with a group of players (NASA.gov).

“It’s quite obvious,” said aerospace engineer Rabi Mehta. “You’re seeing a knuckle-ball effect.” Mehta went on to explain that the ball’s seams resulted in an asymmetric flow of air that caused the ball to be pushed in one direction, swerve or swoop.

In making the ball, Adidas had reduced the typical 12 panels to eight—a mistake that the company, it goes without saying, has not since repeated.

Brazuca

The Adidas Brazuca will be the official ball of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

We obviously don’t know how it performs as it won’t be put to use for another 13 months, but already the ball is generating significant controversy because of something else.

The name.

“Brazuca,” FIFA explains, is an “informal term...used by Brazilians to describe national pride in the Brazilian way of life.”

What the governing body didn’t say is that “Brazuca” can also be interpreted as derogatory slang and is hardly an everyday word in the country.

There is also an issue with the spelling.

As Folha de Sao Paulo columnist Pasquale Cipro Neto wrote recently, “The fact is that many people were outraged with the ‘z’ in ‘brazuca’.” He goes on to cite the song “Querelas do Brasil,” in which Aldir Blanc’s lyrics read, “O Brazil nao conhence o Brasil”—or, “Brazil doesn’t know Brasil.”