Questra is the name given to a family of

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

s originally produced by

Adidas Adidas AG (; stylized in all lowercase since 1949) is a German athletic apparel and footwear corporation headquartered in Herzogenaurach, Bavaria, Germany. It is the largest sportswear manufacturer in Europe, and the second largest in the ...

for major international events in the mid-1990s. Named after "the quest for the stars," successive versions of the ball were produced for the 1996 Olympic tournament and Euro 1996. The ''Questra'' was also the official ball of Spanish

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

.Adidas Questra
on Soccerball world (archived, 12 Feb 2004)

History

The first ball of the family was simply named the Questra and was originally designed to be the official match ball of the

1994 FIFA World Cup The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national soccer teams. It was hosted by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17, 1994, at nine venues across the country. The United States w ...

in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

.Adidas ball history (1970-2002)
on Adidas (archived, 2 Feb 2006) Following the convention of the addition of decorations to the established Adidas Tango style since the Azteca and the Etrusco Unico, this one featured space-themed decorations, not only due to its name, but that 1994 marked the 25th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission in which the first Moon landing took place, which is considered to be one of the most important moments in the history of the host country and the world. Due to the popularity of that ball, there were two new editions of the Questra released in 1996. One of them was named the ''"Questra Europa"'' and was intended to be the official match ball of

UEFA Euro 1996 The 1996 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 96, was the 10th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament contested by European nations and organised by UEFA. It took place in ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, while the other one was bearing the name ''"Questra Olympia"'' and was the official match ball of the football tournament at the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

. Both of these balls reported colours. In the development process of the Questra, Adidas tried to create a lighter and more responsive ball. By manufacturing the new ball from five different materials and enveloping it in polystyrene foam, Adidas made the Questra more waterproof and allowed for greater acceleration when kicked. Consequently, the ball became softer to touch and ball control was improved. This showed within a week of the World Cup in 1994, as players quickly adapted to the new ball and were able to score great goals by utilizing the lighter ball. However, some goalkeepers complained of the ball's unpredictability in humid weather, which made saving shots on goal particularly difficult. The last edition of the Questra was the ''"Questra Apollo"'', which was used in

matches and by the Spanish national team in the 1996–97 season. The Questra Apollo was identical to the original Questra from the 1994 World Cup, except for bearing the logo of the

Royal Spanish Football Federation The Royal Spanish Football Federation (; RFEF) is the governing body of football in Spain. Founded on 29 September 1913, it is based in La Ciudad del Fútbol of Las Rozas de Madrid, Las Rozas, a municipality near Madrid. RFEF organizes the natio ...

. The ball was used in the Intercontinental Cup from the 1994 to 1997 editions.

References

{{UEFA Euro 1996 Questra 1994 FIFA World Cup Products introduced in 1994 UEFA Euro 1996 UEFA European Championship balls