Balls and kits · 1970

The Telstar TV ball

Real football fact

The facts

The official ball of the 1970 World Cup in Mexico was the Adidas Telstar.
Its 32 panels were black and white, so it stood out on black-and-white television.
That black-and-white pattern became the picture of a football all over the world.

The ball was named after Telstar, a ball-shaped satellite launched in 1962 and covered in flat panels, a bit like a football. It sent the first live TV pictures across the Atlantic Ocean.
Only 20 Telstars were made for the 1970 World Cup. The 32-panel pattern was not new (a Danish company, Select, made one in 1962), but the World Cup on TV made it famous.
In 1970, World Cup games were shown live around the world by satellite. A few places saw them in colour, but many families still watched in black and white.
The 32 panels are 12 black pentagons (5 sides) and 20 white hexagons (6 sides).

Watch the ball, not the feet: a clear ball is easier to track and to strike cleanly.