The Adidas Jabulani is the official match ball for the FIFA 2010 World Cup.Now lets have a look at some fun facts about the ball.
- Jabulani means rejoice or bring joy and happiness in Zulu.
- Its not the debut cup of this ball.Previously,it was the match ball for the 2009 FIFA World Cup at United Arab Emirates,2010 African Cup of Nations and in the 2010 Clausura Tournament of Argentina.
- The surface of the ball is textured with grooves, a technology developed by Adidas called "Grip'n'Groove" that are intended to improve the ball's aerodynamics.The design was developed by Loughborough University,UK.
- The Eleven colors on the ball represent the 11 players in a football team,the 11 official languages of South Africa and the 11 South African communities.
- The balls are made in China, using natural latex from Kerala, India for the bladders (Thank god we have something to represent in football..kudos to all my mallu friends..you make our country proud..).
- The retail price is $110.
- The Ball that would be played in the world cup finals is a gold version and is nicknamed "Jo'bulani" after Jo'burg the site for the 2010 cup final.
- There has been number of negative reviews particularly from goal keepers of different teams regarding the unpredictable trajectory of the ball..which favours the strikers and worked against the goalkeepers.
(Source-Wikipedia)
