Buzz
In the early days, soccer balls (or footballs, depending on where you’re from) were simply inflated pig bladders wrapped in leather. One early version was from an ancient Chinese game called 'tsu chu,' which used a ball stuffed with feathers. In medieval England, players kicked leather-covered wine bottles filled with cork shavings, making it easier to retrieve them from the river. It wasn’t until 1844, when Charles Goodyear patented vulcanized rubber, that soccer balls began to take shape as we know them today.
In 1855, Goodyear crafted the first rubber soccer ball. Seven years later, H.J. Lindon invented an inflatable rubber bladder to help the ball keep its shape and be easier to kick. By 1951, white soccer balls became the norm after companies bleached the leather, and in the 1960s, they started using synthetic materials to ensure uniform thickness and prevent deformation. For winter matches, official orange balls were produced for better visibility.
The iconic ball with black and white pentagons and hexagons became popular in the 1960s. Prior to this, leather soccer balls were made of 18 sections stitched together: six panels with three strips each. This created a design that combined 20 hexagons and 12 pentagons for a total of 32 panels.
Adidas’ Telstar made its World Cup debut in 1970 in Mexico. The ball’s design, featuring white hexagons and black pentagons, made it highly visible on television. The added benefit for players: the black pentagons helped them better understand how to curve the ball by tracking its movement more easily.
Adidas maintained the black-and-white color scheme until 2002, but the iconic 32-panel buckyball may not remain in style much longer. For the 2006 and 2010 World Cups, Adidas introduced new designs: the Teamgeist with 14 panels and the Jabulani with just 8 panels.
* Correction: The original version of this post mistakenly claimed that the ball was invented by architect and inventor Buckminster Fuller. That would’ve been amazing. We regret the error, and humbly accept a penalty kick for it.
