By Pete Wilson
15 June 2010
Football’s world govering body Fifa has defended the Adidas Jabulani ball today, saying it has not received a single official complaint from the Football Associations of any of the 32 competing nations at the World Cup.
Adidas has also defended the ball again, with spokesman Thomas Schaikvan saying: ”I wouldn’t say I am surprised by the negative reaction. It is customary when there is a new ball that players need to get used to it.
“What is strange is that people are saying the ball is lighter. That is just not true. There are stringent Fifa technical specifications and our standards are significantly tighter than that. We don’t concentrate on making a faster ball, we want to create a more stable ball.”
An Adidas statement added: ”The ball was launched in December. Since then it has been used in the United States, Germany, Argentina without any negative comments. There is absolutely no reason to change the ball. It is the best model that we have ever produced.”
In the video below, England and Chelsea’s Frank Lampard praises the ball, as does goalkeeper and club-mate, Petr Cech.
.
.
More stories mentioning the World Cup
EXCLUSIVE: The details of USA’s $20m World Cup bonus
World Cup final ‘will vie for record of second most-watched event in human history’
Sportingintelligence home page
