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 The 1978 FIFA World Cup was the 11th edition of the FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial international football world championship tournament among the men's senior national teams. It was held in Argentina between 1 and 25 June. The Cup was won by t ...

in Argentina. Variations of the design had been produced for various competitions including the FIFA World Cup, the UEFA European Championship, and the football competition of the Summer Olympics. The Tango balls have had different names applied to them to distinguish them in their construction, the competitions they have been used for, and even if they are official match balls or replica balls. In 2011,

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 ...

introduced the new Tango 12 ball, but aside from the name there are no particular similarities between the new ball and the old Adidas Tango family.

Tango Durlast

The 1978 Tango Durlast consisted of twenty identical hexagonal panels with 'triads' creating the impression of 12 circles around the pentagons. The Adidas Tango Durlast ball was made of genuine leather with a shiny waterproof plastic coating.

Tango España

The Tango España by

was the official match ball of

1982 FIFA World Cup The 1982 FIFA World Cup was the 12th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams, and was played in Spain between 13 June and 11 July 1982. The tournament was won by Italy national foo ...

held in Spain. The ''Tango España'' had improved water resistant qualities through its rubberized seams. These proved to be not very durable and resulted in the ball having to be changed several times during some games. This ball was the last genuine leather ball to be used in the World Cup.

Tango variations

Other variations of the Tango ball seen include: Tango Roma, Tango Napoli, Tango Munich, Tango Scorpion, Tango Mendoza, Tango Gol, Tango Indoor Ball, Tango Tournoi

Use in heraldry

Adidas Tango ball is featured on the club badge of Ukrainian club

Chornomorets Odessa FC Chornomorets Odesa ( ) is a Ukrainian professional football club based in Odesa. The club's home ground is the 34,164 capacity Chornomorets Stadium opened in 1935 and rebuilt in 2011. According to the club's website, it was formed in 1936 a ...

, as well as Russian football team Mordovia Saransk.

References

External links

Tango balls
on Adidas website
Adidas ball history

''The Guardian'' - The Joy of Six: great footballs

The History of FIFA World Cup Match Ball
{{navboxes , titlestyle = background:#ccccff , list = {{FIFA World Cup official match balls {{UEFA European Championship symbols {{UEFA Euro 1980 {{UEFA Euro 1984 {{UEFA Euro 1988 Tango Products introduced in 1978 FIFA World Cup balls 1978 FIFA World Cup 1982 FIFA World Cup UEFA Euro 1980 UEFA Euro 1984 UEFA Euro 1988 UEFA European Championship balls Olympic football balls