Cape Town, Dec 4 (DPA) The official match ball for next year’s football World Cup finals in South Africa will be called Jabulani, it was announced Friday.
The ball was introduced for the first time at a function in Cape Town ahead of the Draw for the finals later Friday at the Cape Town International Convention Centre.

The president of football’s controlling body FIFA Joseph Blatter, Germany’s Franz Beckenbauer, the only person to win the World Cup as a captain and coach, and England star David Beckham were present at the function held at the famous Waterfront in Cape Town.

Jabulani is a word coming from isiZulu, which is one of 11 official South African languages and translated means “to unite.”

The manufacturers adidas have introduced a newly developed ‘Grip ‘n’ Grove’ technology, which is said to give the ball an exceptionally stable flight and a perfect grip under all conditions through integrated grooves.

Since the introduction of the “goose bumbs” surface for the last Euro ball, the microtexture of the new ball’s outer skin has also been given a visible face-lift.

The Jabulani is made up using only eight thermally bonded 3-D panels, which, for the first time, are spherically moulded to give even more accuracy.

11 colours are used in the ball, which marks the 11th time that an adidas World Cup ball is the official match ball for all games, it also marks the 11 official South African languages, 11 South African communities and 11 players on the field.

Tested by several star players, the ball has been praised by them, with Germany captain Michael Ballack saying: “Fantastic, the ball does exactly what I want it to.”

“For me, contact with the ball is all important, and that is just great with this ball,” said Brazilian Kaka.