FIFA madness is all over the globe!

“Al Rihla” was a common word used during the FIFA World cup 2022, which took place in the country of Qatar. It’s the official matchball for the season. But what does Al Rihla mean? Al Rihla is the name of the ball used at the FIFA world cup 2022! Al Rihla – according to the Arabic language, means “The Journey,” and the design of the ball itself emphasizes the country’s architecture, culture, and flag.

Al Rihla is the latest of the many match balls with their brand name throughout the history of the FIFA World Cup, since 1930, to be specific.

The first ever FIFA World Cup in 1930 in Uruguay did not have an official match ball. Instead, they used the balls Tiento and the T-model brought by the competing teams themselves, which caused quite the ruffle at the Centenario stadium, Montevideo, where both the teams wanted to play with the balls they got, Argentina with Tiento and Uruguay with T-Model. 

Finally, the FIFA officials decided that Argentina’s Tiento would be used for the first half and Uruguay’s T-Model would be used for the second half. This method became a game-changer and went on to affect the results of the match. Argentina rose to lead during the first half of the game with a score of 2-1, but Uruguay snatched the lead in the second half and went on to win the match with a score of 4-2.

Source: assets.gqindia.com

Taking you on a journey of different balls used by FIFA throughout the years. 

1. In 1934, a cotton ball called the Federale 102 was used instead of the usual leather ball.
2. In the 1950 FIFA World Cup, the Super Duplo T ball was used. It was the first ball to regulate air pressure, revolutionizing how balls were manufactured.
3. The ball used in the Mexico World cup of 1986 was completely synthetic. It was called Azteca and was the first ever fully artificial football. It became a cult classic for game ball collectors.
   
   The first-ever official FIFA World Cup ball was the Telstar of Mexico FIFA World Cup 1970. It brought up the famous black and white panel design of the football made by Adidas, who has been the match ball manufacturer of all FIFA World cup matches, including Al Rihla of the FIFA World Cup 2022, ever since. 

The FIFA World cups have also seen its fair share of criticisms around the quality of the ball over the years. In the 1962 World Cup in Chile, the official ball -Crack, was replaced by Top Star – The ball used in the previous edition, due to its lack of quality
During the FIFA World Cup 2002, which was held in Japan and South Korea, the official ball – Fevernova, received a lot of criticism for being too lightweight. Similarly, The official ball ‘- Jabulani, used in the FIFA World cup 2010, South Africa, was also criticized for swerving too much.

Source: bolavip.com

Also Read: 8 FIFA World Cup 2022 Stadiums That You Must Know

Here is the complete list of all the balls ever used in the FIFA World Cups until the FIFA World Cup 2022: