Official World Cup Soccer Ball 1970  

The above picture was provided by Sebastiano Calì from Italy. Thanks!

The above Telstar ball (that was made in France) picture was provided by Jacques Barralon

The Adidas Telstar was named after the Telstar satellite. The ball was completely made of leather like all other balls in its time; however, unlike any other ball, it featured 32 hand-stitched panels (12 black pentagons and 20 white hexagons). This created the roundest sphere of its time.

Telstar Satellite

The revolutionary design of Telstar re-wrote soccer ball history: it was the first white football ever to be decorated with black pentagons. Mexico 1970 was the first live televised FIFA World Cup and the revolutionary design of Telstar. The name derives from “Star of Television” which made the ball far more visible on black and white television. Until this day, the Adidas Telstar remains the common design type of all generic soccer balls.

Only 20 Telstars (without graphics) were provided for the 1970 World Cup

The above picture was supplied by Soccer Ball World visitor Francisco Aquino Ochoa

According to Francisco: "The Telstar balls with NO marks or logos were made EXCLUSIVELY for the matches of the world cup... This ball was a gift from the organization committee of the world cup to a radio journalist in Mexico city.
The ball was used in the previous match to the " Game of the Century " Germany vs Italy at Azteca stadium.
The ball originally belonged to the German team. They returned the ball to the committee. The committee in turn gave the ball to the journalist as a gift...The journalist had the above pictured ball in his house for over 38 years!
All Telstar balls with marks like "adidas","official world cup Mexico","Telstar Durlast " are originals too, but they were not used in the world cup.
These balls with marks were sold in stores or by catalogue..
3 kinds of balls were used in the world cup. All with 32 panels, and with NO marks.
1) White ball. All panels were white.
2) Brown ball. All panels were brown.
3) And this one, the most popular and used in the world cup, with 20 hexagons white and 12 pentagons black."

Thank you for the information and picture Francisco!

Here is a picture of a white Santiago ball which was the "unofficial" ball of the 1966 World Cup in England (courtesy of carlos del castillo)

The first Adidas Telstar called ELAST was introduced in the 1968 European Football Championships. Picture provided by Jacques Barralon

Back to : History of the World Cup Official Match Balls

Other Soccer Ball History Information on Soccer Ball World

• Early Ball History
• Balls in the 1800's
• Goodyear's 1855 Soccer Ball
• Soccer Balls in the 1900's
• First World Cup Soccer Ball with team pictures
• Synthetic Soccer Balls
• The Buckminster Soccer Ball
• 2000 and beyond

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