The new match ball for the 2024 European Football Championship in Germany contains a chip that is intended to help with offside decisions.
The official match ball for the 2024 European Football Championship was presented on Wednesday at a sponsor meeting in the Berlin Olympic Stadium, the EURO final venue on July 14th. In addition to tournament director Philipp Lahm, goalkeeper Manuel Neuer was also there.
According to the manufacturer, the ball has a chip that sends data via radio to the referee team. In combination with player position data and artificial intelligence, the chip is intended to help video referees make decisions faster and more precisely using semi-automatic offside detection.
This technology was already used at the World Cup in Qatar and will also be used in the Champions League. Now comes the premiere at the European Championships.
Names of venues printed
Visually, the white ball is dominated by black and colorful elements in triangular and circular shapes. In addition to the venues, the name of the ball can also be read: “FOOTBALL LOVE”. The three consecutive Ls are likely to cause astonishment in foreign-speaking countries.
Differences in flight behavior
The match balls for the World and European Championships have been manufactured by Adidas since 1970. The official ball of the Bundesliga comes from the Derbystar company – which, according to national player Niclas Füllkrug, is noticeable in its flight characteristics. “The individual brands do differ,” Füllkrug said on Tuesday.
In the afternoon after the publication, the national team will train with the new ball for the first time on the DFB campus in Frankfurt.
The European Championship match ball “Football Love”