The Adidas Finale is a brand 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 ...

made 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 manufacture ...

. It is the current official football of the

UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs fo ...

Champions League, Women's Champions League, and the Youth League; after Adidas took over the contract of official supplier from

Nike Nike often refers to: * Nike (mythology), a Greek goddess who personifies victory * Nike, Inc., a major American producer of athletic shoes, apparel, and sports equipment Nike may also refer to: People * Nike (name), a surname and feminine give ...

in 2000. The internal and external design of the ball changes reflecting improvements to football technologies taken from other Adidas-produced footballs. The external design is the "Starball" based on the stars of the UEFA Champions League and the Women's Champions League logo. Each year's ball keeps the branding name of ''Adidas Finale'', excepting

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es to designate the year.

Usage

During its introduction the Adidas Finale was only used in the latter stages of Champions League competition; it was not uncommon to see other balls in the early rounds, usually provided by the kit manufacturer or the ball supplier for the domestic league of the home team, including other Adidas balls. However, from 2006–07, the Adidas Finale had been used in all stages of the competition, including the play-off round which was introduced in 2009–10 followed with the group stages. The balls can also be seen in other UEFA competitions. These balls are also occasionally used in the UEFA Women's Champions League with similar graphics.

Construction

The ball is made by

as the German brand took over the contract from

in 2000, and was firstly developed based on the Adidas Terrestra Silverstream, the official match ball of the

UEFA Euro 2000 The 2000 UEFA European Football Championship, also known as Euro 2000, was the 11th UEFA European Championship, a football tournament held every four years and organised by UEFA, the sport's governing body in Europe. The finals tournament wa ...

in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

and

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

. This ball was also made with the same type of materials and construction used for the

Adidas Fevernova The Adidas Fevernova is a football manufactured by German corporation Adidas. It was the official match ball of the 2002 FIFA World Cup held in South Korea and Japan and 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup held in United States. Its styling marked a ...

, except, of course, the graphics. The Finale ball incorporates a unique design that was inspired by the UEFA Champions League "starball" logo. The Finale is softer, faster, and more accurate than any other Adidas football before and it also features a layer of highly compressed, gas-filled micro-balloons of equal size (syntactic foam), proven during Euro 2000 and probably contributing to one of the highest average goal rates in a major tournament. Until the final of the 2005–06 season, the Finale used the traditional

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panel design for their balls. From then on the panels are the same as the

Adidas Teamgeist The Adidas +Teamgeist (, with the plus sign being mute) is a football made by Adidas and developed jointly with Molten Corporation. It was the official match ball for the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany. The plus sign in its name was introduced ...

ball. From 2004–05, the ball structure was the same as the Adidas Roteiro balls used for

UEFA Euro 2004 The 2004 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 2004, was the 12th edition of the UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football competition contested by the men's national teams of UEFA member associations. Th ...

, which had thermally bonded panels. Since the 2010 final, the panels took the shape of the competition's starball logo. The panels design has been revised in 2019, previously connected on the edges, the panels are now overlap to improve durability.

Design

Each season in the Champions League, the colour of the stars on the ball is changed. The first ball, in 2000–01 was silver, followed by black in 2001–02, then dark blue in 2003–04, and red in 2004–05. This was followed by light blue in 2005–06. The design for next season's ball was used in this season's final. A light blue ball was used for most of the 2005–06 season, but in the final between

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and

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly referred to as Barcelona and colloquially known as Barça (), is a professional football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish football. Found ...

, held in the

Stade de France The Stade de France (, ) is the national stadium of France, located just north of Paris in the commune of Saint-Denis. Its seating capacity of 80,698 makes it the sixth-largest stadium in Europe. The stadium is used by the France national foo ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

it was replaced by a ball with the same paneling as the Adidas +Teamgeist but decorated with pink stars. For the 2006–07 season, the ball had grey stars trimmed in red and white and the Finale

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates a ...

ball is a chrome silver metallic with royal blue and white. For the 2007–08 season, the ball was decorated in tangerine orange and black stars with grey trim. For the final of the 2007–08 season in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

, the ball was gray and red stars with a gold trim, while the ball's paneling was still same with +Teamgeist, but with PSC-Texture which based on

Adidas Europass Europass is a football made by Adidas. It was the official match ball for UEFA Euro 2008. The ball was officially presented on 2 December 2007 during the group draw for the final tournament. For the final, a silver version, the "Europass Gloria", ...

. The match ball used for the 2008–09 season was black and white with a green trim. For 2009–10, the starball's based panels was being used.

Champions League final variants

Each match ball intended for use in the final is marked with the location at which the final match is to be played. For example, the 2004–05 Champions League final was held in

Istanbul ) , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = 34000 to 34990 , area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side) , registration_plate = 34 , blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD , blank_i ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula ...

and as such, the blue/silver-starred Finale balls were marked with Istanbul. From 2006–07 to

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. ...

, the Champions League holder played with the match ball used in the previous final in their home games. Since 2011–12, the final ball has been used from the round of 16, with the title holders using the regular ball in their home group stage games.

Collectors' items

These official match balls are well prized. The UEFA Champions League is thought to be the most prestigious club competition and the ball itself has a very unusual design which makes the ball unique,

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' (French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

Approved with highest rating, and fairly cherishable.

List of balls

References

External links

Adidas Finale
on Soccer Ball World {{Adidas

Finale Finale may refer to: Pieces of music * Finale (music), the last movement of a piece * ''Finale'' (album), a 1977 album by Loggins and Messina * "Finale B", a 1996 song from the rock opera ''Rent'' * "Finale", a song by Anthrax from ''State of E ...

UEFA Champions League Products introduced in 2001