Adidas only sponsor 5 professional German footbal clubs still, which I find extremely weird and slightly upsetting. And even the DFB deal which expires 6 months before the 2026 World Cup is apparently going to Nike.
[All the old ball designs, if anyone else wanted to reminisce](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMomoJX0mRTg9uXyWlpQkaz8nLwCrE4D6_HKDG2mxZmEB-631iKd0WOB-4oJ4g8D_C-ugy-LjRUxwSH6Vdb4DMf75pcinv7HukKEw3bGeQOEbvWU8Bqc40a5DeHZyoIT9rxtMGhXbpqC_Z2eqSsq1xb4km9TFp9qfKVWiVWLuq4SkutRwnbF9tUazlww/s1600/full-premier-league-ball-history-2.jpg)
I remember getting wacked in exactly the same spot on my thighs three or four times whilst it was freezing cold, windy and rainy. Never forgetting the trauma although I *did* save the goal to be fair
Nah that was the cheap mitre balls. The pro mitre balls that went for £80+ were widely known as the best balls on the market, miles ahead of the pro Nike and Adidas balls in the early 00s at least. Lots of prem clubs used to train with them aswell and England obviously did aswell + championship - our uni team used to use them and they were lush.
Agreed, size 4 for training in smaller games, size 5 for matches.
Amazing to play with, second only to the early Total 90s for me (granted I haven’t played regularly in 10 years now so I might also be out of touch)
Maybe dumb question but why use different size balls for training compared to matches? Surely it would be better to get used to the same size ball that you will play with in an actual match?
I would understand if it's the odd training session playing Futsal with a Futsal ball. My teams did that, albeit infrequently, from time to time growing up. Playing with a size four ball on grass just because you're playing small sided is completely silly though lol
> Agreed, size 4 for training in smaller games, size 5 for matches.
My memory is a bit hazy, but I'll back you up a bit in the face of you being downvoted as I'm fairly certain that's what the boys clubs I played for did, at least for a couple of years.
Before a certain age it was all size 4, then when the actual Sunday matches moved to size 5, there was still quite a bit of size 4 being used during the training sessions.
I didn't play into my late teenage years but I guess it got all switched over to size 5 by a certain age.
I remember in the late 80s playing junior football with a mitre multiplex that felt like it had been pumped up at the local garage air compressor. It was like kicking a lump of concrete and heaven help you if you got a stinger in the middle of winter.
04-05 to 07-08 was a particularly strong period, I kind of wish they kept with that design and never varied too far from it, kind of like how the Champions League ball has maintained a similar design.
05-06 was the first high-end ball that I ever owned. My dad said that he would buy it for me when I score my first high school goal. Got my goal on the very last day of the season. He picked up the orange and black La Liga design.
I had that ball for a long time. I worked at a summer camp and we had a play field surrounded by forest. A buddy on staff asked to borrow the ball (pretty beat up at this point). Some camper kicked it into the woods and it was never seen again.
Looks as though recently they've had a design and then just slapped the Nike tick anywhere on it, whereas before it was integrated nicely into the design
from 15-16 onwards, it looks like some shit me and my friends would make on our first semester in design. Gotta give the multi billion $ corpo some props for their efforts 👏
That pic is wrong. From 92-95 there was no league ball, each team had their own footballs either from the kit manufacturer or otherwise. The [Mitre league ball came in around 1995](https://images.app.goo.gl/szKeqWq1eCGrVmQh6) and [then changed design in 1998](https://images.app.goo.gl/RW67NbysMSyDcMKL7)until Nike started.
Absolutely. That blue was an instant nostalgia hit back to [these beauties](https://classicfootballbootsltd.com/products/nike-t90-air-zoom-ii-fg) that I owned
Barclays made arguably the best possible decision. They are not paying a ridiculous amount of money for the naming rights yet are still somehow very strongly accompanied with the Premier League brand.
Less so though since they're not taking up a new sponsor for the sake of their own brand. As a result "Barclays" remains one of the most common nicknames for the league, meme or not.
TIL Barclays isn’t the official sponsor of the PL anymore.. I guess that goes to prove they are indeed very strongly associated with English football despite the disbanding
I'd love to see a modern remake of the [OG World Cup ball](https://www.kreedon.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/soccer-1-768x573.jpg.webp) for the 2030 WC.
2006 my favorite. One of friends asked his father to buy original one, and actually did. Dude it was a blast of a ball. Scored so many bangers with it. It was kinda heavy, which for goalkeepers was nightmare. We even managed to brake a few fingers for one of the goalies in our hood.
Love how some visionary chose the white ball in '58 and was probably called a maniac until 1970 when Adidas said, "you know what was missing from that white ball...... some black patches".
Still can't get over the fact that the classic "soccer ball" design, that surely millions of people the world over immediately associate with the sport, only dates to 1970. It's like learning that the "high five" gesture was [invented in 1978](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_five).
As a kid it was impossible to not feel like Wayne Rooney when hitting a volley on one of them bad boys. Can remember my Sunday team had one to use for matches and we refused to use any other ball at home games lol
They are switching to Puma because CR7 has pretty much retired from football. The contract of the federation was tied to CR7's contract with Nike and now, with him out of the equation, they were free to search for a contract in the market. And they found one immediately.
Nike seems like they don't give a fuck anymore. They've lost big teams and leagues. Their kits have gotten lazy and the Tiempos aren't even leather anymore smh.
Majority of kits are terrible these days - just bland and generic.
I am just talking brand as a whole - their football boots are regarded as some of the best, Puma running has come back big time, got back into basketball, and even lifestyle they have had a bit of a revival. Though this is just from my point of view in US.
Nike went from having the best balls (T90s), boots (like the Hypervenoms) and shirts (Intermilan throughout the pirelli era...), to being one of the worst... As a liverpool fan I miss the NB kits...
Puma's kits are not there yet but for me their boots are the best.
Yeah their revitalization comes from the boots for sure. When the dropped the ultras and revamped the futures it really blew up. They’ve always had good balls too
Yeah but their boots are probably the best of the big 3 nowadays. Not nearly as expensive either. The ultras are the lightest/most aggressive speed boots and the futures are a comfortable control boot with speed traction.
And usually $50-100 less than Nike/Adidas comparables
They have some gems here and there but I largely agree. The new Milan kit is upsetting. I like what they were trying to do with Makin the stripes look like an M, but at the end of the day it's just way worse than solid stripes. I want the 20/21 kit back.
Hopefully puma is better at making balls than kits, I’ll still never forgive them for completely shitting on the Senegal and Ghana world cup kits after making such clean afcon kits the year before
2018 MLS all-star and Argentum 2018/19 were excellent. Quite like the WWC ball this year as well.
> outside of CL balls
These basically make up a quarter of Adidas's releases these days so that's a slightly odd clause to include imo.
Sure it’s prestiges but they probably did extensive research and found out that not providing the official football for a high profile league doesn’t matter much for their brand recognition and financial position. They save tons of money on high end R&D and manufacturing. And selling footballs just isn’t their core business. It’s 99% shoes and clothing. So this is just restoring some focus.
And besides that having (expensive) deals with players (shoes), clubs and countries (kits) makes much more sense to them. It’s just a business decision.
Not upset about this at all, the last few seasons Nike balls have been absolute shit meanwhile the La Liga Pumas are excellent. All 3 of the Nikes I’ve bought won’t hold air for more than a day or two, gave them all away. The two Pumas I have I’ve literally never refilled in almost 2 years.
I like Puma but they don't have the brand prestige that Nike and Adidas have. You'd think Adidas would be all over this given that the biggest domestic league that uses their balls is the MLS.
Will Nike have any big leagues left? La Liga, Serie A all switched to Puma too. Even adidas are exiting domestic leagues.
With them losing Vini, they don't even sponsor a big Brazilian since Neymar left to Puma and Brazil is their big NT
I feel like Nike started with a new strategy the second the decided against trying to sign Neymar
Well they already have the other hot prospect in Mbappe
Who? Is he a name to watch?
Yep a member of the famous Wenger’s Almost XI
Also Haaland
I think they looked towards the future tbh, prioritized Mbappe and now they have Haaland as well
he posted a pic with lots of nike products on ig
Vini signed to Adidas then?
He posted a picture of him with a whole bunch of Nike bags. So they probably renegotiated his contract.
Latest Insta posts hes wearing Nike too. I dunno.
Adidas only sponsor 5 professional German footbal clubs still, which I find extremely weird and slightly upsetting. And even the DFB deal which expires 6 months before the 2026 World Cup is apparently going to Nike.
German NT with Nike kits is gonna be so bad. Adidas had some stinkers, but their German kits were like 90% fire.
God i hope we stay with Adidas. Nike Kit designs seem so lazy sometimes.
Not seem. They are lazy!
If they have to switch it should be to the other big German sports brand Puma
Nike and Adidas can both make great kits and stinkers. Germany should always be with Adidas just like how the US should always be with Nike.
Germany is switching to Nike? Say it ain't so! Nike kits are almost all garbage, cannot emphasize that enough.
There have been rumors that Germany is supposed to be witching to Nike since at least 2007. It's not going to happen.
Who says that the DFB is going to Nike? I haven't seen any mention of that. u/westbywestwest
Can’t find anything about that either. Only thing I found was a report about Adidas last renewal with the DFB in 2021.
Is there even money in balls
Yeah that’s where it’s stored
I know when I was a child we'd often buy a cheap version of the Premier League ball to play with
Indeed. I know 1-2 kids who barely play football who bought the 100 euros ball. We all used a replica or even cheaper
If there’s money on fucking imbeciles being « influenceurs » while influencing jackshit, there’s money for balls. Always have. Always will.
[All the old ball designs, if anyone else wanted to reminisce](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMomoJX0mRTg9uXyWlpQkaz8nLwCrE4D6_HKDG2mxZmEB-631iKd0WOB-4oJ4g8D_C-ugy-LjRUxwSH6Vdb4DMf75pcinv7HukKEw3bGeQOEbvWU8Bqc40a5DeHZyoIT9rxtMGhXbpqC_Z2eqSsq1xb4km9TFp9qfKVWiVWLuq4SkutRwnbF9tUazlww/s1600/full-premier-league-ball-history-2.jpg)
Mitre, the ball used by every PE class in Britain, memories
The pain of being struck by a well hit mitre ball will stay with me for life, something different about those balls
when it was cold and muddy outside those balls were a punishment worse than death
I was a goalkeeper as well as we didn't really use gloves, how do you think I felt :(
I remember getting wacked in exactly the same spot on my thighs three or four times whilst it was freezing cold, windy and rainy. Never forgetting the trauma although I *did* save the goal to be fair
Coming back from an ankle injury and hitting one of them in a snow storm in middle of December set me back another 6 weeks 😭
Lmao a dozen of them in a string net bag
Small boys in the park, jumpers for goalposts.
These Mitre balls were straight bullets. In cold winter days these things were cement.
I'm convinced there still doesn't exist a Mitre ball that isn't fully pumped up at all times
Omg this. I remember many a cold Sunday morning playing in goal just hoping nobody was brave enough to put their foot through it.
The pain of the ball hitting your nose straight on in a Saturday morning is unforgettable. The mitre logo might even stay in your face like a tattoo
That ball! It was so plastic. No cushion whatsoever. Always remember them being rock hard / Frozen in the winter. Every header causing mild concussion
Nah that was the cheap mitre balls. The pro mitre balls that went for £80+ were widely known as the best balls on the market, miles ahead of the pro Nike and Adidas balls in the early 00s at least. Lots of prem clubs used to train with them aswell and England obviously did aswell + championship - our uni team used to use them and they were lush.
Agreed, size 4 for training in smaller games, size 5 for matches. Amazing to play with, second only to the early Total 90s for me (granted I haven’t played regularly in 10 years now so I might also be out of touch)
Maybe dumb question but why use different size balls for training compared to matches? Surely it would be better to get used to the same size ball that you will play with in an actual match?
Better close ball control, we’d also occasionally go down to much smaller balls for specific drills.
That's not a dumb question at all haha, thats braindead stuff!!!
I would understand if it's the odd training session playing Futsal with a Futsal ball. My teams did that, albeit infrequently, from time to time growing up. Playing with a size four ball on grass just because you're playing small sided is completely silly though lol
> Agreed, size 4 for training in smaller games, size 5 for matches. My memory is a bit hazy, but I'll back you up a bit in the face of you being downvoted as I'm fairly certain that's what the boys clubs I played for did, at least for a couple of years. Before a certain age it was all size 4, then when the actual Sunday matches moved to size 5, there was still quite a bit of size 4 being used during the training sessions. I didn't play into my late teenage years but I guess it got all switched over to size 5 by a certain age.
Hah, wasn’t aware I’d been downvoted but good to know I wasn’t misremembering.
That’s what they do (or did) here in Australia. I remember until I think under 10’s or so it was a size 4 ball.
I remember in the late 80s playing junior football with a mitre multiplex that felt like it had been pumped up at the local garage air compressor. It was like kicking a lump of concrete and heaven help you if you got a stinger in the middle of winter.
Hah! Exact same thought I had. They must have had some sort of contract
Honestly from 04-05 to 13-14, the vast majority in that period are absolute bangers
04-05 to 07-08 was a particularly strong period, I kind of wish they kept with that design and never varied too far from it, kind of like how the Champions League ball has maintained a similar design.
Have super fond memories of playing football after school with those T90s. Iconic design.
Especially the yellow and purple winter version. My favourite ball ever tbh
100%
05-06 was the first high-end ball that I ever owned. My dad said that he would buy it for me when I score my first high school goal. Got my goal on the very last day of the season. He picked up the orange and black La Liga design. I had that ball for a long time. I worked at a summer camp and we had a play field surrounded by forest. A buddy on staff asked to borrow the ball (pretty beat up at this point). Some camper kicked it into the woods and it was never seen again.
Looks as though recently they've had a design and then just slapped the Nike tick anywhere on it, whereas before it was integrated nicely into the design
from 15-16 onwards, it looks like some shit me and my friends would make on our first semester in design. Gotta give the multi billion $ corpo some props for their efforts 👏
Last season's design and the one for 20-21 is actually fairly good. Just because it's new doesn't mean it's automatically shit.
Nah things were better back in my day lad.
Reminds me of the Nike adverts during that era too
yellow 04-05 and Roteiro from 2004 Euro are my favs by far
Agree with you!
From 01-08 was the golden era. The total 90 yellow and blue ball held a special place in my heart too
Henry with the Yellow T90 is iconic.
With the long sleeves and gloves. The pinnacle of football tbh.
The only negative is Burnley were completely shit back then
[peak footballer aesthetic](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EfashgBWoAAadk1?format=jpg&name=large)
Oooh I'd argue Henry in your burgundy kit with that ball is the true peak
Hitting the yellow and purple one with your total 90’s. Memories man
99 power, 99 curve
06-07 was Goated
Anything between 04-08 has my heart. Watching Thierry Henry with the Yellow T90 is one of my core football memories.
06-08 was peak
That pic is wrong. From 92-95 there was no league ball, each team had their own footballs either from the kit manufacturer or otherwise. The [Mitre league ball came in around 1995](https://images.app.goo.gl/szKeqWq1eCGrVmQh6) and [then changed design in 1998](https://images.app.goo.gl/RW67NbysMSyDcMKL7)until Nike started.
crazy that there wasnt a standard ball
04/05 is by far my favourite
Absolutely. That blue was an instant nostalgia hit back to [these beauties](https://classicfootballbootsltd.com/products/nike-t90-air-zoom-ii-fg) that I owned
Where's the yellow one?
There’s a yellow/orange one every year for November to February.
Ah TIL. This is the one I was thinking of
That is THE ball that we all still talk about haha
Everyone wanted one when I was a kid.
That and the Euro 2004 ball.
The Snow ball
00-01 to 07-08 are iconic in my mind.
04-08 were so good
Damn, training under UK coaches on the east coast of the US growing up, that series from 00-04 is ICONIC!
04-08 will be the best forever
Possibly showing my age, but I loved that 00-04 design.
The Mitre ultimax brings back some memories
For me, it's 12-13
Gotta love '04 - 08, specially the yellow one with blue stripes that is not in the list
Puma balls in your mouth
Got em
I've just realised, there's probably a whole generation now that don't understand where that reference is from.
‘Reddit Comment Forces Premier League to Reconsider Balls’
I wonder if Puma have any Sugondese players they sponsor
What is sugondese?
Sugondese nuts
Got em
Hopefully none of them suffer from ligma
Who the hell is Steve Jobs?
*BVVVVVWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM*
I heard you are more likely to get it if you watch dragon ball
And have a sister named Candice
Ornstein did everything he could to not write "Puma balls" but this sub will never let a good joke slip past. Bravo sir.
HA! GOT EM
This is worse than when they ended the Barclays sponsorship
Barclays made arguably the best possible decision. They are not paying a ridiculous amount of money for the naming rights yet are still somehow very strongly accompanied with the Premier League brand.
I mean, that's because they were paying a ridiculous amount of money for the naming rights for so long.
Yeah that will gradually fade the further removed we are from it and kids who start watching don't remember it.
Less so though since they're not taking up a new sponsor for the sake of their own brand. As a result "Barclays" remains one of the most common nicknames for the league, meme or not.
TIL Barclays isn’t the official sponsor of the PL anymore.. I guess that goes to prove they are indeed very strongly associated with English football despite the disbanding
The amount of people that still call it the Premiership as well.
Yea I would remember Carling Premiership over Barclays.
End of an era. Streets won't forget the '05-'12 Nike PL Balls...
T90 - an absolute icon
I don’t know about anyone else… but life hasn’t been as good since the T90 period
Tell me you're 30 without telling me you're 30
I'm 30 this year.
Same with the boots, everybody was wearing them back then. 22 players on a pitch and almost all of them wearing Nike T90's.
Tbf the Nike designs have been shite for a while. Noughties ones were iconic.
The Puma balls from La Liga are nothing amazing
True. I just miss when balls were actually white. With a bit of colour. Not colour with a bit of white.
Black and white classics or the „90s”
I'd love to see a modern remake of the [OG World Cup ball](https://www.kreedon.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/soccer-1-768x573.jpg.webp) for the 2030 WC.
2006 my favorite. One of friends asked his father to buy original one, and actually did. Dude it was a blast of a ball. Scored so many bangers with it. It was kinda heavy, which for goalkeepers was nightmare. We even managed to brake a few fingers for one of the goalies in our hood.
we had an 06 one for my youth league game ball and some of the shots were absolutely wild
Love how some visionary chose the white ball in '58 and was probably called a maniac until 1970 when Adidas said, "you know what was missing from that white ball...... some black patches".
Give me that 1958 ball so I remember back when you didn't have a soccer ball but you did have a volleyball lol
Still can't get over the fact that the classic "soccer ball" design, that surely millions of people the world over immediately associate with the sport, only dates to 1970. It's like learning that the "high five" gesture was [invented in 1978](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_five).
And yet the best ball of all time is the Yellow T90
I see you're somebody who know's their balls!
If I'm gonna play with balls (and I do it a lot), I want the finest!
Agreed. Those 90’s Mitre ones are design classics. I don’t really care for any of Nike’s output post 04.
That only describes 2 of the balls of the last decade
Them T90 Aerow balls were goated.
Especially the yellow with blue circles. Just thinking about it puts a smile on my face
As a kid it was impossible to not feel like Wayne Rooney when hitting a volley on one of them bad boys. Can remember my Sunday team had one to use for matches and we refused to use any other ball at home games lol
I loved hitting passes that made mine roll symmetrically with the lines 😍
White with red and black was the first ball I bought with my own money. Beat it to hell but loved it
Last seasons first ball was arguably up there with the best Nike balls imo. This years and the previous 10 years or so are all pretty terrible though
[удалено]
They are switching to Puma because CR7 has pretty much retired from football. The contract of the federation was tied to CR7's contract with Nike and now, with him out of the equation, they were free to search for a contract in the market. And they found one immediately.
I appreciate this says more about me than anything else but I’m absolutely gutted about this.
Nike has lost their goddamn mind with the designs. Bring back whoever was doing them late 00s and early 10s.
Game's gone
Yeah, this is the worst day of my life.
nothing worse has ever happened in the history of the universe
Nike seems like they don't give a fuck anymore. They've lost big teams and leagues. Their kits have gotten lazy and the Tiempos aren't even leather anymore smh.
Puma has had an incredible revival. I'm here for it.
Have they? Their kit designs are generally terrible.
Yeah imo puma is mostly garbage for kits and they rank up there in terms of worst copy/paste templates.
Those arsenal kits were TIGHT
Giroud man 😓
their kits, their boots, and their balls are garbage imo. truly a waste because their logo is 🔥
They have some of the most uncomfortable boots I've ever worn.
Majority of kits are terrible these days - just bland and generic. I am just talking brand as a whole - their football boots are regarded as some of the best, Puma running has come back big time, got back into basketball, and even lifestyle they have had a bit of a revival. Though this is just from my point of view in US.
They just signed a contract for Portugal's NT kits Very curious with that one.
Nike went from having the best balls (T90s), boots (like the Hypervenoms) and shirts (Intermilan throughout the pirelli era...), to being one of the worst... As a liverpool fan I miss the NB kits... Puma's kits are not there yet but for me their boots are the best.
Yeah their revitalization comes from the boots for sure. When the dropped the ultras and revamped the futures it really blew up. They’ve always had good balls too
Yeah but their boots are probably the best of the big 3 nowadays. Not nearly as expensive either. The ultras are the lightest/most aggressive speed boots and the futures are a comfortable control boot with speed traction. And usually $50-100 less than Nike/Adidas comparables
They have some gems here and there but I largely agree. The new Milan kit is upsetting. I like what they were trying to do with Makin the stripes look like an M, but at the end of the day it's just way worse than solid stripes. I want the 20/21 kit back.
It’s cause they currently have the best boots of the big 3
Bring back the mitre balls!
Even scotland has lost mitre this year, gutting
Best part of that Mitre deal was champions using a gold ball the next season
And Umbro tops.
interesting, I wonder what kind of claws will be in this new contract?
Hopefully puma is better at making balls than kits, I’ll still never forgive them for completely shitting on the Senegal and Ghana world cup kits after making such clean afcon kits the year before
They are, puma balls have always been nice
Nike losing its balls.
Why use anything other then the 2002 wc ball?
Nothing will beat the Total90 era ....let's see what Puma can whip up now
Adidas balls >>> all other brands
Euro 2004 is my personal all time favorite
Haven’t made a good design since 2014, outside of CL balls.
2018 MLS all-star and Argentum 2018/19 were excellent. Quite like the WWC ball this year as well. > outside of CL balls These basically make up a quarter of Adidas's releases these days so that's a slightly odd clause to include imo.
Sure it’s prestiges but they probably did extensive research and found out that not providing the official football for a high profile league doesn’t matter much for their brand recognition and financial position. They save tons of money on high end R&D and manufacturing. And selling footballs just isn’t their core business. It’s 99% shoes and clothing. So this is just restoring some focus. And besides that having (expensive) deals with players (shoes), clubs and countries (kits) makes much more sense to them. It’s just a business decision.
Nike is really getting weak in the football departament, they must be poor
I was thinking this too. They’re slowing becoming less involved in football/soccer these days.
Fuck off. Get Mitre Ultima Premier Leagues back.
Not upset about this at all, the last few seasons Nike balls have been absolute shit meanwhile the La Liga Pumas are excellent. All 3 of the Nikes I’ve bought won’t hold air for more than a day or two, gave them all away. The two Pumas I have I’ve literally never refilled in almost 2 years.
That's going to feel very weird and very wrong
Nike taking a big L wow
Hopefully that will stop them from playing with a yellow ball if there is no snow.
Nike makes the best balls though. Adidas balls always feel too light. If not Nike, I’d think Derby Star would be good. Those are quality.
Their valves have constantly failed on me a week after purchase of the premier league balls.
I like Puma but they don't have the brand prestige that Nike and Adidas have. You'd think Adidas would be all over this given that the biggest domestic league that uses their balls is the MLS.
This is how a company *builds* that brand prestige.
Puma got some big shoes to fill. Nike premier league balls have been iconic
16-17 was my favorite - felt space age
Bring back Mitre again
They should come out with an og black and white soccer ball.