adidas Unisex Al Rihla Training Hologram Foil Football, Multco/Panton

Product Information

After using the ball for much of the past six months, I think Adidas achieved what it wanted in creating a ball that is fast, accurate and reliable for the World Cup in Qatar. As a goalkeeper who has had to deal with the unpredictability of the Telstar and Jabulani, it’s a breath of fresh air to have a more “normal” and realistic ball. I believe most of the goalkeepers at this winter’s tournament will agree. Once training was over, I sat down with a few of the more experienced outfield players from our team to get their thoughts and experiences with Al Rihla, and how they believe it will be received at the World Cup. This is what they said…

We are also proud to continue our work with Common Goal, with 1% of Al Rihla’s net sales supporting the movement, together using football as a vehicle to drive social change and meaningful impact for the lives of young people.”Small-sided game conclusion: Obstructions in front of the goalkeeper occasionally make it difficult to follow the trajectory of shots on target and catch up to the speed of Al Rihla.

As a goalkeeper myself, I wasn’t always thrilled with the results of World Cup balls and how silly my colleagues were made to look at times, but as a football fan, I understood Adidas’ thinking: create a ball that will be fun and exciting for a majority of the fans around the globe. Designed from the inside out using data from rigorous testing in adidas labs, wind tunnels, and on-pitch, Al Rihla provides the highest level of accuracy and reliability on the field of play, due in part to its new panel shape and surface textures: The game is getting faster, and as it speeds up, accuracy and flight stability becomes critically important. The new design allows the ball to maintain its speed significantly higher as it journeys through the air . For the biggest global stage in all of sport, we set out to make the impossible, possible with radical innovation by creating the fastest and most accurate World Cup ball to-date,” said Franziska Loeffelmann, Design Director - Football Graphics & Hardwear, adidas. In 2020 the brand launched the adidas Football Collective – a new movement committed to creating change through football, that brings together past, current, and future initiatives aiming to empower teams and football communities around the world.Though the movement may not be as extreme as the Jabulani, it’s clear that Al Rihla’s movement and speed will still have the potential to cause all sorts of headaches for the goalkeeper. Crossing summary: The ball is fairly easy to control and read but it does still have the potential to create havoc for goalkeepers if they get the timing and/or technique wrong. With Al Rihla, it’s incredibly important for goalkeepers to get their decision-making spot on, including the timing of set position and the decision-making of when and how to dive. Get any of these wrong and you’ll be a step or two behind.

Once our goalkeepers got their hands warm, we then moved on to shot-stopping, where they faced shots from outside the box at varying angles to prepare them for the small-sided games with the rest of the team. Shot-stopping summary: The ball has a fairly normal flight, but when hit with a particular technique it is still able to wobble, dance, and swerve in the air like other Adidas World Cup balls of the past. It’s a nice and good ball. If you hit it hard, it feels light, but if you hit it soft it could feel heavy. When you hit the ball correctly it gets really good speed. A lot of other balls move quite a lot in the air, but this one doesn’t do anything crazy. It’s really hard on the surface, which I like because it’s easier to control. I’ve used other balls that feel more like a pillow, which can also be nice, but feel a little strange and more difficult to control. It is also a really nice ball to head and control or clear to a team-mate.” The next video is of some goals and saves from our small-sided game so you can see what Al Rihla is able to do. Starting its journey in Qatar, Al Rihla will be unveiled alongside World Cup greats, Casillas and Kaka, and iconic players, Farah Jefry and Nouf Al Anzi. They will be joined on pitch by a diverse mix of talent featuring aspiring woman football players from Qatar, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and some young next generation players from Aspire academy.With shots from close range, it’s vital the goalkeeper gets both hands behind the ball with support from the thumbs to help ease it softly into your grip. When we started using Al Rihla in April, it took a few training sessions for our goalkeepers to get used to its speed and power, leading to spills and errors from shots they normally handled with ease.