The Questra, meaning the “Quest of Stars,” was inspired by its hosts: the stars on the US flag and the 25th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission when the first human walked on the moon. The ball integrated the star components into the classic Tango panels making it the last black and white World Cup ball. The Questra was manufactured by five different materials and it had a flexible but durable outer layer and was perfectly waterproof. This ball became very successful — Adidas used the Questra for both the 1996 Euro Cup and the 1996 Olympic games, but with a colorful design.

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The official match ball of the Italia 90 joined the Tango series, and it was even introduced for the Pope in the Vatican before the tournament. The Tango panels were decorated with Etrusc lions. The ball was made of multi layer synthetic material making the ball waterproof. However, the ball took some blame for the low amount of goals scored during this World Cup. Due to the high demand, the ball was produced in many countries but only the version made in France was used during the Italia 90.

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The official match ball of the 1986 FIFA World Cup was called Adidas Azteca and was the first World Cup ball to be named and decorated completely in honour of the host nation. Ever since, Adidas has kept this practice for all of the following World Cup balls. This ball was not made of real leather but instead, it was the very first official World Cup match ball to be made of synthetic materials. This new construction made it possible for the ball to recover its original shape immediately after being kicked and could retain it for a long time, even at high altitudes, on rough surfaces or during wet conditions.

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Due to the indisputable success of the Tango in the 1978 World Cup and the 1980 Euro Cup, Adidas did not design and produce a revolutionary new ball for the Spanish World Cup in 1982. Instead they made a ball called Tango España, with only minor changes from its predecessors. This ball was the first Adidas World Cup ball to be name inspired by the host country. The ball was almost identical to the previous Tango. It was once again composed of 32 hand sewn panels, with the same black and white Tango design: the curved triangles were printed on every hexagon, which formed circles around the 12 pentagonal panels, giving the ball a great visual illusion of 12 identical circles.

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For the 1978 FIFA World Cup Adidas launched a brand new model with a revolutionary design: The Tango, inspired by the classic dance from Argentina. The design consisted of 20 black and promptly curved triangles, each one printed onto the white coloured surface of each hexagonal panel. Since the pentagonal panels were white coloured too, the triangles created a series of black and elegant circles on a white surface. When the ball was rotating, a nice effect was created by the black circles, which was visually very attractive. The Tango became extremely popular and it became associated with the Adidas brand itself — these two words were interchangeable in the 80’s. No wonder why the Tango design was applied on official Adidas match balls until the 2000 Euro Cup.

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The fact that Adidas did not produce a new design for the 1974 FIFA World Cup is a testament of how successful the initial Telstar balls became. Adidas even kept the Telstar name, only the text on the balls were updated. The previous balls became heavier when wet, which made them much more difficult to control — players had to kick them harder to reach the same distance. The new balls were coated by a stronger Durlast layer, though, in order to prevent water coming into the ball through the seams. This changed the picture of the games significantly.

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Adidas became the official supplier of match balls for the FIFA World Cup in 1970, and still is. The very first black and white ball was called “Telstar”, coming from the union of two words: television and star. It was said at that time that the combination and contrast of black and white would amplify the visibility of the balls on both colour and black and white televisions, given that the Mexican World Cup was the first World Cup to be broadcast on TV worldwide. The Telstar consisted of 32 panels (20 white regular hexagonal and 12 black regular pentagonal), and on the outer surface a special plastic coating was applied and called “Durlast”. This helped the ball to protect the leather more than previously on any surface and to keep it waterproof. The Telstar is still one of the most iconic and classic football of all time and by far the most expensive one (if ever found on sale).

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The Slazenger Challenge was made of high quality leather and entirely hand sewn. It was composed of 25 rectangular panels, joined together in a way that was very similar to the 1958 ball and which differed only in the panel which contained the valve. In the Slazenger ball the valve was in the centre of a small panel between two other, even shorter panels. The remaining panels were the same as the 1958 ball and the inflating system was the latest type valve — latex rubber. The ball provided excellent sphericity, and its composition was adopted over the years by other brands. The balls of the 1966 World Cup were provided in three different colours; white, yellow, and orange. Although the most widely used model was the white version, in the memory of football fans the orange ball of the historic final of Wembley remains the strongest.

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The Crack ball had an innovative design. It was composed of 18 irregular polygonal panels, having three different shapes: hexagonal, rectangular and hexagonal curved, all joined together by manual sewing. With the new latex valve the air and the spherical shape was retained longer. The Crack ball is still aesthetically considered one of the most elegant World Cup balls. However, the quality of the coloured coating was poor and did not last for very long. European teams did not like the ball, therefore 100 pieces of the 1958 Top Star were sent as reserves to Chile, in case the Crack model would fail in a match.

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The Top Star ball became a popular design, it was similar to the balls of the time — however, on this ball there were elegantly alternating long and short panels; two short panels in the midst of two long panels and the inflation valve was in the centre of one short panel. The ball brought technological developments as well — the leather balls were treated with a waterproofing wax, making the balls more water resistant. The 1958 World Cup balls were yellow, light brown or white. In matches when it was rainy or wet, the white ones were used.

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