Early footballs began as animal bladders or stomachs that would easily fall apart if kicked too much. As time went on, footballs developed into what they look like today. This was possible with the help of people like Charles Goodyear and Domenico Nobili, who introduced rubber and their discoveries of vulcanisation to the design of footballs. Today, technological research is ongoing to develop footballs with improved performance.
In 1863, the first specification for footballs were laid down by the Football Association. Previous to this, footballs were made out of inflated leather, with later leather coverings to help footballs maintain their shapes. In 1872 the specifications were revised, and these rules have been left essentially unchanged as defined by the International Football Association Board. Differences in footballs created since this rule came into effect has been to do with the material used in their creation.
Footballs have gone through a dramatic change over time. During medieval times balls were normally made from an outer shell of leather filled with cork shavings. Another method of creating a ball was using animal bladders for the inside of the ball making it inflatable. However, these two styles of creating footballs made it easy for the ball to puncture and were inadequate for kicking. It was not until the 19th century that footballs developed into what a football looks like today.
Elements of the football that today are tested are the deformation of the football when it is kicked or when the ball hits a surface. Two styles of footballs have been tested by the Sports Technology Research Group of Wolfson School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering in Loughborough University; these two models are called the Basic FE model and the Developed FE model of the football. The basic model considered the ball as being a spherical shell with isotropic material properties. The developed model also utilised isotropic material properties but included an additional stiffer stitching seam region.
Many companies throughout the world produce footballs. 40% of all footballs are made in Sialkot, Pakistan. The earliest balls were made by local suppliers where the game was played. As a response to the problems with the balls in the 1962 FIFA World Cup, Adidas created the Adidas Santiago – this led to Adidas winning the contract to supply the match balls for all official FIFA and UEFA matches, which they have held since the 1970s, and also supplied match balls for the 2008 Olympic Games. They also supply the ball for the UEFA Champions League which is called the Adidas Finale.
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