Roteiro
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Roteiro is the official ball of the UEFA 2004 European Football Championship. Roteiro means route in Portuguese and is a reference to the discoveries made by the Portuguese in the 15th and 16th century. It is made by Adidas and it was presented in 1 December 2003 in Lisbon, Portugal.
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[edit] The balls
For the first time in a major football tournament, every single ball at the Euro 2004 was personalized to each game. The Roteiro balls had inscribed the name of the teams playing, the date, the name of the stadium and the longitude and latitude of the center spot of the pitch. It was the first ball to feature an innovative thermal-bonding production technique developed by Adidas. Adidas supplied 2,300 balls for games and training sessions for the tournament.
[edit] Criticism
The ball was criticized by many players in the tournament. Players claimed it was difficult to get make long passes hit the target and that the ball acted strangely. Italian Andrea Pirlo even claimed that Roteiro reminded him of plastic balls used by children. It's not the only ball in big football tournaments that has been criticized by the players: Fevernova in the FIFA World Cup 2002 and Teamgeist in the FIFA World Cup 2006 also have come under criticism from the players.
[edit] Technical information
- Thermal bonded panel edges. Special adhesive for durability and water resistance. No stitching.
- Panel design: Syntactic PU surface material for maximum abrasion resistance.
- Innovative carcass technology
- High-grade natural latex bladder
