In 2006, the Adidas Teamgeist (meaning “team spirit” in German) ball also came in a special edition for the tournament’s final, which was called the Teamgeist Berlin in honour of the city where the final took place. This was the first time a different ball had been used for the final, but this will be the case once again at this year’s World Cup final in Johannesburg.

For the other matches in the tournament, a ball called the JABULANI will be used. The name means “to celebrate” in Zulu, which is spoken by 25% of South Africans and is one of their eleven official languages. The JO’BULANI is a special edition of the ball, named for Johannesburg’s common nickname Jo’burg, and it will only be used in the final match. Whilst the same ball from a technical perspective, the JO’BULANI is more golden in colour, just like the gold of the Wordl Cup’s Jules Rimet trophy.

The footballs used in World Cup tournaments advance each time, with manufacturers Adidas aiming to make each ball better than before. The Teamgeist, for example, was made up of just 14 moulded panels compared with the 32 stitched hexagonal panels of a regular football, making it much rounder. With the JABULANI they have reduced this to 8 panels, making this the rounded football ever made.

The ball has texturised groove texturing to help goal keepers handle it and also, according to the boffins at Adidas, to help it fly more smoothly, in the same way as the dimples on a golf ball.

It is also the most waterproof football ever used in such a tournament, so even if the South African weather surprises everyone and it rains the whole time the ball will retain almost no moisture at all, preventing it from becoming sluggish in its movement.

As well as the science behind making the best possible ball for the competition, the aesthetic design of the JABULANI has been carefully considered to try and capture the spirit of the first African World Cup. The design is made up of eleven different colours, because the number eleven is symbolic both of the eleven players on a football team and the eleven tribes of South Africa.

As with previous World Cup balls including the Teamgeist, replicas of both the JABULANI and the golden JO’BULANI balls will be available for fans to buy.