Adidas launches Fevernova for World Cup

Leverkusen:

Players in the 2002 World Cup will be kicking the fastest and most accurate football ever. Adidas have created the Fevernova, designed to be 25 per cent more accurate and 10 per cent faster than the ball of 1998. The latest technologies and materials have been incorporated by the German research company, Bayer. The ball is made of a special foam that is harder and more elastic, yet soft enough to be kicked comfortably. The design is also smaller and heavier to increase the accuracy of trajectory. England star David Beckham, known for his ability to make accurate passes and free kicks, gave his seal of approval. "Of course it is important. You always want to look good on the pitch. When you have a ball like that and you are striking it as well as you can do, and it is going fifty yards to someone's feet, that is the sort of accuracy you want," said Beckham. England and Manchester United tests with a robotic leg show the Fevernova can strike repeatedly at an area just 20 centimetres across, that is 25 metres away. "Always with the same speed. Always with the same pressure. Always with the same angle. And then you have the landing area. You can measure the landing of the ball both left and right and also the distance. This gives you information about the quality of the accuracy of this ball. We did hundreds of kicking tests with a robotic leg. What we realised with the Fevernova was that the accuracy compared with previous Adidas balls was a landing area of about 20-25 cm, which is a unique situation," maintained Gunther Pfau of Adidas. The ball can travel speeds of up to 130 km/hour or 81 miles/hour. Bayer Leverkusen's Bernd Schneider is also impressed with the new technology. "Indeed it is a fast ball. Definitely faster than its forerunners. But you can still play some precise passes and score some great goals with it," remarked Schneider. With the World Cup getting ever closer, the more skillful players will be looking forward to getting even greater control of the ball.