Questra is the name given to a family of

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

s originally produced by

Adidas Adidas AG (; stylized as adidas since 1949) is a German multinational corporation, founded and headquartered in Herzogenaurach, Bavaria, that designs and manufactures shoes, clothing and accessories. It is the largest sportswear manufactur ...

for major international events in the mid-1990s. Named after "the quest for the stars," successive versions of the ball were produced for the 1996 Olympic tournament and

Euro 1996 The 1996 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 96, was the 10th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football tournament contested by European nations and organised by UEFA. It took place in England from 8 to 30 ...

. The ''Questra'' was also the official ball of Spanish

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men's ...

.Adidas Questra
on Soccerball world (archived, 12 Feb 2004)

History

The first ball of the family was simply named the Questra and was originally designed to be the official match ball of the

1994 FIFA World Cup The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national soccer teams. It was hosted by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17, 1994, at nine venues across the country. The United States ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

.Adidas ball history (1970-2002)
on Adidas (archived, 2 Feb 2006) Following the convention of the addition of decorations to the established

Adidas Tango The Adidas Tango is a family and brand of association football balls originally introduced as the "Tango Durlast" in 1978, specifically for the 1978 FIFA World Cup in Argentina. Variations of the design had been produced for various competitions ...

style since the Azteca and the Etrusco Unico, this one featured space-themed decorations, not only due to its name, but that 1994 marked the 25th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission in which the first moon landing took place, which is considered to be one of the most important moments in the history of the host country. Due to the popularity of that ball, there were two new editions of the Questra released in 1996. One of them was named the ''"Questra Europa"'' and was intended to be the official match ball of

UEFA Euro 1996 The 1996 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 96, was the 10th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football tournament contested by European nations and organised by UEFA. It took place in England from 8 to 30 ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, while the other one was bearing the name ''"Questra Olympia"'' and was the official match ball of the football tournament at the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

. Both of these balls reported colours. In the development process of the Questra, Adidas tried to create a lighter and more responsive ball. By manufacturing the new ball from five different materials and enveloping it in polystyrene foam, Adidas made the Questra more waterproof and allowed for greater acceleration when kicked. Consequently, the ball became softer to touch and ball control was improved. This showed within a week of the World Cup in 1994, as players quickly adapted to the new ball and were able to score great goals by utilizing the lighter ball. However, some goalkeepers complained of the ball's unpredictability in humid weather, which made saving shots on goal particularly difficult. The last edition of the Questra was the ''"Questra Apollo"'', which was used in

matches and by the Spanish national team in the 1996–97 season. The Questra Apollo was identical to the original Questra from the 1994 World Cup, except for bearing the logo of the

Royal Spanish Football Federation The Royal Spanish Football Federation ( es, Real Federación Española de Fútbol; RFEF) is the governing body of football in Spain. It is based in La Ciudad del Fútbol of Las Rozas, a municipality near Madrid. It was founded on 14 October 1909 ...

. The ball was used in the

Intercontinental Cup (football) The European/South American Cup, more commonly known as the Intercontinental Cup and from 1980 to 2004 as the Toyota European/South American Cup (abbreviated as Toyota Cup) for sponsorship reasons, was an international association football, foo ...

from 1994 to the 1997 editions.

References

{{UEFA Euro 1996 Questra 1994 FIFA World Cup Products introduced in 1994 UEFA Euro 1996 UEFA European Championship balls