adidas reveals OCEAUNZ, the Official Match Ball of the FIFA Women’s World Cup which will be hosted in Australia and New Zealand in 2023.
It’s the ninth successive football adidas has produced for the FIFA Women’s World Cup and has been designed to cope with the demands and speed of the modern game.
Taking inspiration from the unique Australasian landscape, with visuals nodding to the vast mountains of New Zealand and Australia’s connection with the Indian Ocean, the white pearlescent ball features a decoration of blues and greens with cultural markings that celebrate the countries coming together for this year's World Cup.
The Australian patterns have been created by renowned local artist, Chern’ee Sutton, while the markings representing New Zealand were designed by Kiwi artist, Fiona Collis. OCEAUNZ is also decorated with patterns that represent different elements of the sport, such as footballs and goals, ensuring the game is represented on the face of the ball.
Franziska Loeffelmann, Design Director Football Graphics at adidas: “With record viewing figures for the Women’s EUROs tournament last year, the upcoming World Cup is set to be a massive moment for the game that we love. We’re turning up with a match ball that we’re incredibly proud of featuring our innovative technology and with a design that represents the natural beauty of the landscape in which it will be played. The game is always evolving, and the design of the OCEAUNZ is built to help players cope with the pace and demands of the modern game. We’re hugely excited for the FIFA Women’s World Cup and to see the women’s game lifted to even further heights, in two fantastic host nations.”
Like the Official Match Ball of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, OCEAUNZ features connected ball technology, providing precise ball data, which will be made available to Video Match Officials in real-time. Combined with player position data and by applying artificial intelligence, the innovative technology contributes to FIFA’s semi-automated offside technology and offers Video Assistant Referees instantaneous information to help optimise decision-making.
Following in the footsteps of the FIFA World Cup 2022, adidas will donate 1% of net sales of the OCEAUNZ Official Ball to Common Goals’ ‘Global Goal 5 Accelerator’; a collective project that increases female participation, representation and leadership in the grassroots game. The programme focuses on increasing girls’ participation as well as the proportion of female coaches and female leaders in football for good community programmes, helping to ensure that every girl participant has a female athlete role model in their community.
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OCEAUNZ will be priced at £150, and available to purchase on adidas.co.uk.