The Adidas Al Rihla () is a

ball A ball is a round object (usually spherical, but sometimes ovoid) with several uses. It is used in ball games, where the play of the game follows the state of the ball as it is hit, kicked or thrown by players. Balls can also be used for s ...

for

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

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 ...

. It was the official match ball of the

2022 FIFA World Cup The 2022 FIFA World Cup was the 22nd FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022, after the country was awarded the hosting ri ...

Qatar Qatar, officially the State of Qatar, is a country in West Asia. It occupies the Geography of Qatar, Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it shares Qatar–Saudi Arabia border, its sole land b ...

and has also been used as the official match ball for the

Saudi Professional League The Saudi Pro League (SPL), also known as the Roshn Saudi League (RSL) for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Saudi Arabia and the highest level of the Saudi football league system. The SPL is regarded as th ...

and

Qatar Stars League The Qatar Stars League (; abbreviated as QSL), known as Ooredoo Stars League for sponsorship reasons, is the top level football league in Qatar football league system. Contested by 12 teams, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation wi ...

for the 2022-23 season. The ball contains a suspended

inertial measurement unit An inertial measurement unit (IMU) is an electronic device that measures and reports a body's specific force, angular rate, and sometimes the Orientation (geometry), orientation of the body, using a combination of accelerometers, gyroscopes, an ...

inside its bladder that supplies the

video assistant referee The video assistant referee (VAR) is a Assistant referee (association football), match official in association football who assists the referee by reviewing decisions using video footage and providing advice to the referee based on those revi ...

with instantaneous, highly detailed ball movement data. The ball was designed for sustainability, being the first FIFA World Cup official match ball to be produced with environmentally friendly inks and adhesives.

History

Adidas unveiled Al Rihla on March 30, 2022. The presentation in Qatar featured former World Cup winners

Kaká Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite (; born 22 April 1982), commonly known as Kaká () or Ricardo Kaká, is a Brazilian former professional Association football, footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. In his prime at A.C. Milan, AC Mil ...

(Brazil) and

Iker Casillas Iker Casillas Fernández (; born 20 May 1981) is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper and currently works as a football commentator. Popularly dubbed "''San Iker''" ("Saint Iker") for his ability to produce miracu ...

(Spain), as well as

Farah Jefry Farah Hosamaldin Jefry (; born 12 January 2003) is a Saudi Arabian footballer who plays as a midfielder for Al-Ittihad. Early life Jefry started playing football at the age of eight. She attended Manarat Jeddah International School. Club career ...

(Saudi Arabia) and Nouf Al Anzi (United Arab Emirates). Al Rihla means ''The Journey'' or ''The Trip'' in

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

. ''

Rihla ''Riḥla'' () refers to both a journey and the written account of that journey, or travelogue. It constitutes a genre of Arabic literature. Associated with the medieval Islamic notion of "travel in search of knowledge" (الرحلة في طلب ...

'' is also a traditional genre of

Arabic literature Arabic literature ( / ALA-LC: ''al-Adab al-‘Arabī'') is the writing, both as prose and poetry, produced by writers in the Arabic language. The Arabic word used for literature is ''Adab (Islam), Adab'', which comes from a meaning of etiquett ...

about journeys, such as the 14th century travelogue of

Ibn Battuta Ibn Battuta (; 24 February 13041368/1369), was a Maghrebi traveller, explorer and scholar. Over a period of 30 years from 1325 to 1354, he visited much of Africa, the Middle East, Asia and the Iberian Peninsula. Near the end of his life, Ibn ...

, known simply as ''

The Rihla ''The Rihla'', formal title ''A Masterpiece to Those Who Contemplate the Wonders of Cities and the Marvels of Traveling'', is the travelogue written by Ibn Battuta, documenting his lifetime of travel and exploration, which according to his desc ...

''. About 70% of the world's supply of footballs is produced in

Sialkot Sialkot (Punjabi language, Punjabi, ) is a city located in Punjab, Pakistan. It is the capital of the Sialkot District and the List of most populous cities in Pakistan, 12th most populous city in Pakistan. The boundaries of Sialkot are joined ...

. Pakistani-based multinational company

Forward Sports Forward Sports is a Pakistani multi-national company based in Sialkot, Punjab, specializing in the manufacture of sports equipment, primarily soccer balls. The company produces balls for prominent brands including Adidas. Founded in 1991 by Kh ...

provided

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

with 35% of over 300,000 Al Rihla match balls. It manufactured 5.5 million balls in 2022 including 60,000 high quality replicas used by teams for training in Qatar. Adidas subcontracted Forward Egypt, a subsidiary of Forward Sports, to produce 1500 balls. For souvenir sale, replicas of Al Rihla were also provided and produced by Adidas, but its production subcontracted to another company in

Madiun Madiun () is a city in the western part of East Java, Indonesia, known for its agricultural center. The city has been administratively separate from the surrounding Madiun Regency since the formation of the two bodies in 1950, but the city remain ...

, Indonesia, Global Way.

and

Qatar Airways Qatar Airways Company Q.C.S.C. (, ''al-Qaṭariyya''), operating as Qatar Airways, is the flag carrier of Qatar. Headquartered in the Qatar Airways Tower in Doha, the airline operates a hub-and-spoke network, flying to over 170 internatio ...

partnered with

SpaceX Space Exploration Technologies Corp., commonly referred to as SpaceX, is an America, American space technology company headquartered at the SpaceX Starbase, Starbase development site in Starbase, Texas. Since its founding in 2002, the compa ...

on a

Falcon 9 Falcon 9 is a Reusable launch system#Partial reusable launch systems, partially reusable, two-stage-to-orbit, medium-lift launch vehicle designed and manufactured in the United States by SpaceX. The first Falcon 9 launch was on June 4, 2010, an ...

mission. On

Eutelsat Eutelsat S.A. is a French satellite operator. Providing coverage over the entire European continent, the Middle East, Africa, Asia and the Americas, it has been the world's third-largest satellite operator in terms of revenues. Its subsidiary E ...

Hotbird 13F mission (launched on 15 October 2022), the first stage B1069.3 included a hosted promotional payload by FIFA, that was a box powered by

Starlink Starlink is a satellite internet constellation operated by Starlink Services, LLC, an international telecommunications provider that is a wholly owned subsidiary of American aerospace company SpaceX, providing coverage to around 130 countries ...

containing 2 Adidas Al Rihla balls, that were to be used in

in Qatar.

Description

Al Rihla's membrane is made of twenty seamless, thermally bonded

polyurethane Polyurethane (; often abbreviated PUR and PU) is a class of polymers composed of organic chemistry, organic units joined by carbamate (urethane) links. In contrast to other common polymers such as polyethylene and polystyrene, polyurethane term ...

panels. Its "Speedshell" surface is textured with

debossed Embossing and debossing are the processes of creating either raised or recessed relief images and designs in paper and other materials. An embossed pattern is raised against the background, while a debossed pattern is sunken into the surfac ...

macro and micro patterns, meant to improve the ball's flight stability and swerve. Franziska Loffelmann, a design director at Adidas, describes Al Rihla as "the fastest and most accurate FIFA World Cup ball to date." Independent testing of the ball revealed that it has similar performance characteristics to the predecessor

Telstar 18 Telstar 18 (Apstar 5) is a China communications satellite made Lockheed, U.S. that was startet by a USSR Zenit-3SL ballistik very heavy rocket from the atom Ocean Odyssey platform floating Uranium to Plutonium on the equatorial atom polygon Pacifi ...

and Brazuca balls. The ball also features "connected ball technology," a suspension system inside the ball's bladder with an

(IMU) at the center to provide the

(VAR) with highly accurate ball movement data within seconds. This technology was developed with

and Kinexon based in Munich. According to FIFA, the visuals are inspired by the

culture Culture ( ) is a concept that encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and Social norm, norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, Social norm, customs, capabilities, Attitude (psychology), attitudes ...

, architecture, Dhow boats and

flag A flag is a piece of textile, fabric (most often rectangular) with distinctive colours and design. It is used as a symbol, a signalling device, or for decoration. The term ''flag'' is also used to refer to the graphic design employed, and fla ...

of Qatar. The blue, red, and yellow color scheme that is meant to represent the landscape of Qatar. On the "Pro" version of the ball one can read "Football is..." and all around "teamwork - fair play - collective - responsibility - passion - respect" in six languages:

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

Mandarin Chinese Mandarin ( ; zh, s=, t=, p=Guānhuà, l=Mandarin (bureaucrat), officials' speech) is the largest branch of the Sinitic languages. Mandarin varieties are spoken by 70 percent of all Chinese speakers over a large geographical area that stretch ...

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

, and

Esperanto Esperanto (, ) is the world's most widely spoken Constructed language, constructed international auxiliary language. Created by L. L. Zamenhof in 1887 to be 'the International Language' (), it is intended to be a universal second language for ...

Final matches – Al Hilm

The match ball for the

2022 FIFA World Cup Final The 2022 FIFA World Cup final was the final match of the 2022 FIFA World Cup, the 22nd edition of FIFA's competition for men's national football teams. The match was played at Lusail Stadium in Lusail, Qatar, on 18 December 2022, the Qatari ...

was announced on 11 December 2022. It is a variation of the Al Rihla named the Adidas Al Hilm (, a reference to "every nation's dream of lifting the FIFA World Cup"). Whilst the technical aspects of the ball are the same, the colour is different from the Al-Rihla balls used in the group stages and preceding knockout games, with a ''Gold Metallic'', maroon, ''Collegiate Burgundy'', and red design, a reference to the

national colors National colours are frequently part of a country's set of national symbols. Many states and nations have formally adopted a set of colours as their official "national colours" while others have '' de facto'' national colours that have become wel ...

of host nation

and the golden colors shared by the

Final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

venue A venue is the location at which an event takes place. It may refer to: Locations * Venue (law), the place a case is heard * Financial trading venue, a place or system where financial transactions can occur * Music venue, place used for a conce ...

and the

FIFA World Cup Trophy The FIFA World Cup is a golden trophy that is awarded to the winners of the FIFA World Cup association football tournament. Since the advent of the World Cup in 1930, two different trophies have been used: the Jules Rimet Trophy from 1930 to 19 ...

. The Al Hilm was used for the Semi-finals, 3rd position playoff and the final of the World Cup 2022. It is the fifth special ball for FIFA World Cup semi-final/final matches, the other four being the +Teamgeist Berlin (

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

), the Jo'bulani (

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

), the Brazuca Final Rio (

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

), and the Telstar Mechta (

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

). Al Hilm has the same languages as Al Rihla, but in another configuration.

References

{{FIFA World Cup official match balls

Al Rihla The Adidas Al Rihla () is a Ball (association football), ball for association football produced by Adidas. It was the List of FIFA World Cup official match balls, official match ball of the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar and has also been used as ...

2022 FIFA World Cup FIFA World Cup balls Products introduced in 2022 Goods manufactured in Pakistan