Following on from the earlier spots of the new Predator 24 colourway that looked to have been inspired by the Euro 2004 adidas ‘Roteiro’ ball, the Colombia national team have now been seen training with a modern version of the ball, confirming suspicions that the Three Stripes are re-releasing the iconic design.
This international window really is the gift that keeps on giving, and we haven’t even had a competitive match yet! So far we’ve had several big boot spots, and they’ve included the first appearance of an all-new colourway for the Adidas Predator 24 – first debuted by Italy’s Giacomo Raspadori and quickly followed by Predator poster boy, Jude Bellingham. The new paint job for the boot looked to have been inspired by the design of the Adidas Roteiro ball from Euro 2004, which made a certain amount of sense given that that competition was 20 years ago. Now it looks like that’s all but confirmed, with the added bonus being that it looks like the Three Stripes are also releasing a remake of that iconic football design.
Meaning "road map" or "navigation chart" in Portuguese, "Roteiro" is a reference to the discoveries made by the Portuguese in the 15th and 16th century. It was the match ball for the tournament held in Portugal, and for the first time in a major football tournament, every single ball at Euro 2004 was personalised to each game. The Roteiro balls had the name of the teams playing, the date, the name of the stadium, and the longitude and latitude of the centre spot of the pitch inscribed on them. It was the first ball to feature an innovative thermal-bonding production technique developed by adidas, who supplied 2,300 balls for games and training sessions for the tournament.
A closer look at the ball in use by the Colombian national team though shows that its merely the aesthetics that have been carried across from the OG and wrapped around the current ‘FUSSBALLLIEBE’ adidas match ball that’s set to be used at Euro 24. That makes sense, given the advances in ball technology over the last 20 years. Does this mean that we won’t be getting the original as part of the impending release? We wouldn’t bet on that, with Adidas likely to also release an exact replica for those purists amongst us.
The PUMA 'Cumbre' is the official match ball for Copa America 2024, but given that Colombia are an adidas team, that's why they're using this new Roteiro design as they prepare for their matches against Spain and Romania this week.
Watch this space for official launch details for the 2024 adidas Roteiro ball.
