Kickoff (Cape Town)
20 November 2008
The official match ball for the 2009 Fifa Confederations Cup in South Africa was unveiled and used at the Nelson Mandela Challenge last night.
Aptly named 'Kopanya' the ball was specially designed and made by adidas for the festival of the continental champions, played as dress rehearsal for the Fifa World Cup in 2010.
The name of the ball and its unusual design pay tribute to the hosts South Africa.
The 'Kopanya' is constructed out of 14 panels using revolutionary Thermal Bonding Technology and the revolutionary surface structure PSC-Texture which was first presented in 2007.
PSC-Texture consists of a sophisticated and extremely fine structure on the ball's outer skin that guarantees optimum grip between ball and boot.
Like its predecessor, the adidas 'Kopanya' provides perfect flight characteristics and allows the players exceptional ball control.
The unique outer skin improves power transmission, creates greater swerve and increases accuracy on the pitch, in all conceivable weather conditions. And for the goalkeeper too, providing a much better grip between glove and ball substantially improves his catching of the ball.
For decades, adidas has traditionally linked the name and design of the match ball for major tournaments around the world to the host country.
The word 'kopanya' comes from Southern Sesotho and literally translated means "join together". And that is exactly the goal of the Confederations Cup. It will bring the world of football together for the first time in South Africa in June 2009.
The unusual design of the adidas 'Kopanya' was inspired by the typical artwork of the Ndebele people of South Africa and Zimbabwe.
Ndebele artwork is characterised by complex geometric shapes with black contours together with an array of earth colours which are applied with the fingers to the exterior walls of houses in particular, and are also used for the interior of homes.
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