Changing room chat: Euro 2012 ball is bad news for keepers

A NEW Adidas ball, to be used at the Euro 2012 finals, will fly faster than its predecessor and will be just as unpredictable for goalkeepers, the chief executive of the German sporting goods company has predicted.

“We will certainly make the ball (fly) faster and hopefully, we’ll see a lot of goals being scored at next year’s tournament in Poland and Ukraine,” said Herbert Hainer.

The new Euro 2012 ball will undergo a “revolutionary development” compared to the famous Jabulani ball, which gave goalkeepers so much trouble at last year’s World Cup. “As for Jabulani, we certainly underestimated high altitude, at which the tournament in South Africa was played,” Hainer said. “As for the complaints from goalkeepers, as soon as the tournament started everyone was quiet because people were just enjoying watching the games. And in the Champions League we’ve seen no complaints at all.”

Hainer declined to disclose the ball’s name, which will be officially presented at the draw ceremony for the finals in Kiev on 3 December, saying only that it will have a theme associated with both Poland and Ukraine.