Johannesburg -Adidas has launched Jo Bulani, the Official Match Ball for the final of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa.
It is a unique gold-coloured version of the Jabulani, the Official Match Ball of the tournament and its name is a tribute to Johannesburg or Joburg, the City of Gold.
While the ball still features the iconic South African inspired design, the main colour of the JoBulani is gold.
This is the second time that adidas has designed a special ball for a FIFA World Cup final, the first final ball was the golden TEAMGEIST BERLIN, which was used on July 9th, 2006. The JOBULANI will be available in retail from today.
City of Johannesburg Mayor Amos Masondo was presented with the new ball by Zobuzwe Ngobese, the Public Relations Manager at adidas South Africa.
We are delighted about giving this new ball to the world and we felt it was appropriate to handover the ball to the Mayor of the City of Johannesburg because this ball is synonymous with this city both in name and design. The history books will record Johannesburg as the second city after Berlin to have a special ball made for the World Cup final, says Ngobese
Kicking the new ball at the centre of the revamped Soccer City pitch, Masondo, said: We would like wish all the 32 participating nations including our own team Bafana Bafana the best of luck in reaching the final so that they can enjoy the privilege of playing with the JoBulani.
The ball was concurrently unveiled at a special event at the adidas headquarters in Germany where adidas CEO, Herbert Hainer handed the ball to Bafana Bafana coach Alberto Parreira. The entire Bafana Bafana team who are using the adidas training facilities attended the special ceremony.
The Jo Bulani also features the newly developed GripnGroove profile which provides the best players in the world with a ball allowing an exceptionally stable flight and perfect grip under all conditions. Comprising only eight, completely new, thermally bonded 3-D panels, which for the first time are spherically moulded, the ball is perfectly round and even more accurate than ever before.
The name is inspired by the name, Jabulani, which means to celebrate in isiZulu, one of the eleven official languages of the Republic of South Africa, which is spoken by almost 25 percent of the population. The Jo Bulani is designed in white and gold, as a tribute to both the colour of the FIFA World Cup trophy and the City of Gold, the nickname of Johannesburg.
adidas always involves world-class athletes in the development and testing of its products. For the adidas JABULANI, adidas partners AC Milan, FC Bayern Mnchen, the Orlando Pirates and Ajax Cape Town tested the ball in 2008, contributing to improvements in the surface structure and material composition. The involvement of our players will continue to help bring the best football products to market going forward. In the future, adidas will continue to use innovative technology to extend its world-leading position in football production and thus strengthen its position as the authentic symbol of high-performance sporting goods for professionals and amateurs alike. adidas also intends to unveil more revolutionary innovations in match ball production for future UEFA, FIFA and CAF competitions. The adidas innovation team (ait.) is already working on innovations for the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil, the company said in a statement to The Zimabwean.
Post published in: Football