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As millions of eyes follow the soccer ball at the World Cup, fans may not realize there's a secret hidden inside those match balls. It's a high-tech sensor that Adidas calls connected ball technology. There's an accelerometer and a gyroscope that's measuring everything that happens with the ball. So, every pass, every kick. Adidas football innovation lead Hanna Schafka says the goal of this data is to help referees make offsides or handball foul calls faster.
How do you get all this technology in here without affecting the weight of the ball and how it plays on the field? We worked so hard to counterbalance the chip while making sure that this little thing doesn't affect the ball in any way negatively. Even the outside of the ball underwent rigorous testing and a redesign to be more aerodynamic. But after a close look at the upgraded 2026 tournament ball, we wanted to see how they constructed the ball of the past. This workshop in Glen Rock, New Jersey is low-tech compared to the Adidas lab in Germany. Here Paul Cunningham, founder of Leatherhead Sports, makes vintage soccer balls the old-fashioned way.
The traditional balls were sewn together. They cut out leather panels, [snorts] sew them together, [groaning] inflate them, and hand lace them. This is a recreation of the ball from the first World Cup in 1930. First thing I notice it is heavier. This particular ball is, you know, made from boot leather and it's a heavy boot leather. think this is kind of a lost art? I believe so. I mean, there really aren't too many people in the US making sports balls. While the ball has changed over 100 years, the love of the game hasn't. Fans still get a kick out of it. Michael George, CBS News, Glen Rock, New Jersey.
