Europass Gloria 2008

Euro 2008 is starting in a few days again and some players are already getting their excuses in.

The Final ball is very similar to the Europass Adidas ball that will be
used for the rest of the tournament, and that has already been
presented. However, the Europass Gloria, as the Final ball is called,
is coloured silver, as opposed to the Europass ball which is white.
Both balls have 12 black dots, and the Europass Gloria ball has the
image of the Henri Delaunay Trophy in silver inside the dots. The flags
of hosts Switzerland and Austria have been integrated into both ball
designs, forming a circle (showing unity). The technology used for the
ball manufacturing clearly shows the superiority that Adidas enjoys in
the football sector.
But the new ball is proving a pain for goalkeepers.

Europass Gloria - 2008

Jens Lehmann

The 38-year-old Germany goalkeeper conceded two goals in the friendly against Belarus this week - and promptly blamed the ball. "The ball is very difficult for me. I only trained with it for the first time a week ago. It is once again different from the ones before it. I had a situation where I wanted to hold on to the ball and then it started to move around."

Teamgeist - 2006

Paul Robinson

The England No1 was not impressed: "It behaves more like a water polo ball or volleyball and when it gets wet, it's even worse," he said. "It doesn't even have to be a Ronaldinho or a Roberto Carlos, the ball moves about all over the place."

Roteiro - 2004

Iván Helguera

The Real Madrid player was really unhappy with this one, even suggesting it did something impossible: "It goes in two directions at once and it's too light. To send it where you want you really have to hit it hard. It's like a beach ball."

Fevernova - 2002

Zlatko Zahovic

Another tournament, another new ball from Adidas and another complaint, this time from the Slovenian playmaker: "It is the worst ball I've ever played with," he said."There'll be a problem since it's light as a balloon and bounces out of control."

Tricolore - 1998

Roberto Carlos

The Brazilian, who had scored one of the free-kicks of all time the previous year, thought this version was a step backwards. "I've been practising with it but this ball doesn't swerve as much as it used to," he said. "I'm just going to have to hit it straight."

The T model - 1930

The first World Cup finalists

Before the final Uruguay and Argentina complained about the quality of the other nation's ball. The result: the Argentinians' ball was used in the first half and the T-model in the second.

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