Amman, June 2010- Sports giant adidas, official match ball providers for all FIFA tournaments since 1970, have released an official statement in response to recent negative reports on the adidas Jabulani, official match ball for the 2010 FIFA World Cup™.

Having met or exceeded all FIFA Approved Standards as well as tests from the University of Loughborough, the adidas Jabulani has been scientifically proven to have unprecendented stable flight and laser-like precision. As the official match ball provider for all FIFA tournaments for almost four decades, adidas’ experience and track record of introducing match ball innovations is unparalleled.

Since December 2009, the adidas Jabulani has been used at the highest professional level in Germany, the Netherlands, France, Austria, Russia, Switzerland, Argentina and the South African premier league. In addition, all federations who qualified for the 2010 FIFA World Cup™ were supplied with a first shipment of Official Match Balls as early as February 2010.

The adidas Jabulani also received favourable reviews from the world’s leading football players, when it was first played with professionally in December 2009. Among the players that commented on the ball’s technical precision were –

Michael Ballack: “Fantastic, the ball does exactly what I want it to.”
Petr Cech: "You can feel the energy coming towards you, like a shot.”
Frank Lampard: “A very strong ball, true to hit.”
Kaká: “For me, contact with the ball is all-important, and that’s just great with this ball.”

The adidas Jabulani, first used competitively in December 2009, has been developed using the new “Grip ’n’ Groove” profile. The profile circles around the entire ball in an optimal aerodynamic way and integrated grooves on the surface provide unmatched flight characteristics, making it the most stable and accurate adidas ball ever. The ground-breaking performance features of the adidas Jabulani have also been checked numerous times in the wind tunnel and adidas football laboratory in Scheinfeld, Germany.

This news release has been distributed by Bidaya Corporate Communications on behalf of adidas.
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