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Nike's Most Aerodynamic Soccer Ball Ever Is Designed To Wobble Less Mid-air

Not everything Nike does revolves around cool shoes and apparel. Its connection to the world of sports is about giving athletes the tools they need to perform at their absolute best. And, for soccer (er, football) players, that goes beyond footwear, jerseys and shorts, and protective gear — the ball may be the most important element of their game.

For decades, Nike's been working to develop the best ball possible, going from spheres made with hand-sewn materials to others that will work the same on wet or dry conditions on the field. Now the sportswear giant says it has designed its most aerodynamic ball of all time, "Nike Flight."

According to Nike, the new Flight ball is "a revolution in football aerodynamics," delivering 30 percent "truer flight" than in its predecessor, the Nike Merlin ball that was introduced in 2018. What this means, exactly, is that the Flight ball has a more consistent travel path as it flies through the air after being kicked. Nike says that, in order to reduce wobble and deliver a more predictable and consistent flight, it had to create a new technology called AerowSculpt, a material wrapping the ball that's intended to make air flow around it instead of gripping its surface.

Sculpting

Nike

The brand compares the features of this ball design to the dimples on a golf ball, which can affect the spin, drag, and lift. With Flight, Nike says the result is a ball that makes less unpredictable movements, leading to fewer changes in direction mid-air — a feat that wouldn't be possible with a ball that was completely smooth. Considering how important long ball kicks are in soccer, the AerowSculpt construction on Nike's Flight ball, and its promised accuracy, should be a welcomed improvement for players everywhere.

"The construction started with a square shaped Aerotrack groove," said Kieran Ronan, Nike's senior director for global equipment. "Over the course of the 68 iterations, we modified the shape of the groove, added sculpted chevrons, and explored multiple features throughout to deliver one geometric pattern that helps promote a more stable flight." Those AerowSculpt design details aren't hard to miss: The Flight ball is covered in what looks like dented, thick lines, each one carefully sculpted to be able to influence how the ball flies.

"Everything done at the [Nike] Lab is rooted in science."

Additionally, Nike says Flight is made with a fuse-welded, four-panel construction that has 40 percent fewer stiff seams than most traditional 12-panel balls. In other words, its materials requires less stitching. This will allow players to have an easier grip on the ball whenever it touches their feet and, at the same time, have a more accurate sweet spot every time they hit the Flight ball with power. And, since it won't be as unpredictable in the air, all of these features combined should make it easier for players to hit their target during a cross to a teammate or a shot on goal.

Robot kicks

Aside from more than 800 athletes who helped Nike test its Flight ball, the company says it also relied on data from a robotic leg that was programmed to replicate kicks from actual, human players and then repeat them over and over again. That automated testing, combined with real-world data, helped Nike measure ball performance (like how much it wobbles if you hit it in a certain spot) in different settings and then use that information to adjust features accordingly. This robot, which Nike built in-house at its Equipment Innovation Laboratory, is a key part of why the company ended up with over 68 iterations of the Flight ball, before eventually landing on the final product you see here.

"Everything done at the [Nike] Lab is rooted in science," Ronan said. "Here, we are able to detect small differences in performance that may not be perceivable to most athletes, but when those small differences are iterated upon 68 times, the result is a noticeable leap in performance."

While football may not be the biggest sport in the U.S., that's certainly not the case for the rest of the globe, where passion for the game is rampant. And with Nike's current flagship ball, the Merlin, being used in some of the most prestigious professional leagues — including the Premier League in the U.K. And Serie A in Italy – the Flight ball will have its moment to shine soon. That can be both good and bad, as there have been soccer balls in the past with aerodynamic innovations that were deemed "too perfect" for their own good.

The unknown

Nike

Still, Ronan is confident in what his team has achieved with the Flight ball, he told Input in an interview, saying that the rigorous testing from players and robots alike will make it "the best possible product" that Nike can bring to the market. "There's always gonna be a question," he said. "But our hope and our wish is that everything comes together the way we planned it, and if something were to happen, we will work through it, figure it out, get better, and we'll keep moving forward."

"No ball, you don't have a game."

Ronan said the Flight ball has been in the works for eight years, a sign that Nike wasn't trying to rush its development until it was perfectly happy with how it performed in every possible scenario. Its real test, however, will come once the ball launches on June 29 and players all around the world have a chance to play with it and put it through its paces outside of a controlled environment. On a professional level, Flight will be used in the Serie A, Premier League, Russian Premier League, National Women's Soccer League, among others.

"The ball, over the years, gets notoriety if it doesn't do what people [want it to do ]," added Ronan, noting that consistency of flight was chief among the factors considered during development of Nike Flight. "The ball is almost the unseen object, but actually is the most important part of the game. No ball, you don't have a game."

Nike

Nike

Nike Engineers Soccer Ball With Truer Flight, Fresh Technology - Forbes

The new AerowSculpt technology on the Nike Flight soccer ball helps create a truer flight pattern, ... More the company says.

Nike

True ball flight. The type of flight that both players in the field and goalkeepers can appreciate. It takes updated technology to make this happen and Nike NKE believes it has accomplished the goal with the new Nike Flight ball, saying the ball has 30 percent truer flight thanks to its AerowSculpt design that took eight years, 1,700 lab hours and 68 unique iterations to make happen. 

The goal through it all, says Kieran Ronan, Nike senior director for global equipment in soccer, was to create consistency. Whether athlete commentary from 20 years ago or commentary from today, athletes all said the same thing. "They are looking for consistency in feel, touch and flight," Ronan says. When eight years ago Ronan and the team at the Nike Innovation Equipment Lab started down this project, knew that accomplishing consistency in flight accomplished all three. 

The new Nike Flight soccer ball, an eight-year engineering project.

Nike

Getting that consistency, then, started with engineering. The resulting Flight ball includes AerowSculpt engineered grooves, a four-panel fuse-welded exterior and the use of Nike All Conditions Control 3D ink to print "micro flaps" on the exterior of the ball to help with drag. Lab testing — and anecdotal responses from the 800 athletes used during the process — with a robotic leg mimicking field-specific strikes developed 30 percent truer flight, improving flight consistency. 

Everything starts with the AerowSculpt molding into the surface of the ball. The first iteration offered square-shaped grooves. From there, engineers tested. They toyed with the groove's shape, its depth and width. "You tweak and it gets better or worse and if it got better, you go again," Ronan says. "Through testing, the numbers started to align. Everything done at the lab is rooted in science. Here, we are able to detect small differences in performance that may not be perceivable to most athletes, but when those small differences are iterated upon 68 times, the result is a noticeable leap in performance."

Inside Nike's laboratory a robotic kicking leg helped run tests on the flight of the ball.

Nike

A ball generally wobbles as it flies, with air gripping the smooth surface creating a wake and causing changes in direction. This can result in missed shots and disconnected passes. The patented AerowSculpt technology moves the force around the ball, rather than letting it grip the surface. Over the design process, engineers added sculpted chevrons and explored multiple features to create one geometric pattern to promote stable flight. The grooves promote air movement around the ball rather than having air grip the surface, similar to the dimples on a golf ball. 

To further improve the aerodynamic flight, Nike reduces its 12-panel ball to four, a 40 percent reduction in stiff seams to create a larger sweet spot for feel and control, Ronan says. 

Lab testing was a major component of the creation of the Nike Flight soccer ball.

Nike

Nike repurposed its Nike All Conditions Control 3D ink, originally introduced in 2014, to let the ink raise off the smooth surface of the ball, helping create "micro flaps," an idea from the aerospace industry, to further improve the aerodynamic nature of flight in conjunction with the AerowSculpt design. 

"I have always been a player who can strike a ball from distance with proper technique so to have a ball, like Nike Flight ball, that has less drag gives me the confidence knowing that my technique to strike it will be predictable and consistent with how it should come off my foot," says Carli Lloyd of the U.S. Women's National Team. "There is no better feeling than kicking a ball and knowing it is true every time you kick it."

A close-up of the new Nike Flight soccer ball.

Nike

Launched in a stark black ink on a white exterior with plenty of aesthetic call outs to the technology and science behind the design, expect the next few weeks to offer the ball in a series of new league-specific designs, including for the NWSL, English Premier League and Serie A. No matter the graphic application, every design was measured and tested by the Nike engineering team so that "whatever ends up on the ball," Ronan says, "gives the same consistency, here in the U.S. Or in the Premier League, Russia or wherever else."  

Ronan says that during the process of creating the Nike Flight ball the team used a mixture of science and athlete experience to help direct the end result. "Numbers don't lie, and numbers help remove the emotion from making some decisions," he says. "Sometimes it is the sheer joy and seeing people light up (when testing the ball) where we know what the numbers tell us. We can talk about how the science of the lab blends with the joy and art of the game and the passion people put into it, whether on the field or the team here behind the product."

Why Nike Contract Could Hurt England's Preparations For Russia 2018 World Cup

ENFIELD, ENGLAND - MARCH 26: Gareth Southgate manager of England talks to players during an England... [+] training session, on the eve of their international friendly against Italy at Tottenham Hotspur Training Centre, on March 26, 2018 in Enfield, England. (Photo by Catherine Ivill/Getty Images)

England's preparations for Russia 2018 could be derailed by the new Adidas Telstar 18 ball that's being used at the World Cup. England won't be able to get much practice with it due to a contract with Nike to use their Ordem V ball instead. According to Reuters, the only chance England will get to test out the new World Cup ball will be in their final friendly against Costa Rica on June 7 and in some training sessions. It might seem like a minor detail, after all, a bad workman blames his tools, but in a game of fine margins, such details can be significant.

The Adidas Telstar 18 has already been criticized by top goalkeepers such as David De Gea due to the way it moves in the air. It is smoother than most balls, which might seem like a good thing, but actually can make the ball's movement more unpredictable as the seams on a regular football help reduce drag. A smooth ball can experience higher levels of drag, causing unpredictable movement similar to a 'knuckleball' in baseball. This is a worry for goalkeepers who must deal with unpredictable long-range shots, but it can also affect a team's tactics as shots from distances that are unlikely to result in a goal with a regular soccer ball suddenly become more viable with a smoother ball. At the other end of the pitch, practice with the correct ball could be the difference between a free kick finding the top corner and going inches over the bar.

Previous world cup balls such as the Jabulani world cup ball used at South Africa 2010 and the Fevernova used in 2002 in South Korea and Japan faced similar complaints at the time. Brazil goalkeeper Julio Cezar described the Jabulani as 'like a ball you'd buy in a supermarket', and Italy goalkeeper Gigi Buffon said that its trajectory was unpredictable. The design of the Telstar 18 might hark back to the iconic Telstar ball of 1970, but its performance seems to resemble the balls of 2010 and 2002.

For England's goalkeepers, an unpredictable ball that they aren't used to could also affect confidence, especially as England don't have a stand-out number one, with Joe Hart struggling to get time between the sticks at West Ham, and his deputies Jack Butland, Jordan Pickford, and Nick Pope only having nine England caps between them. England's defense has only conceded one goal in its last four friendly matches against Brazil, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands, and preparations for Russia 2018 seem to be going well, despite a few injuries, but any small chance to improve preparations could make all the difference in a tight game. When national teams are considering things like the risk of getting stuck in Moscow traffic when choosing their base camps, the ball they prepare with is no minor detail.

England's kit sponsorship deal with Nike is worth $48 million a year and includes sponsorship of the national training center, Nike being a supporting partner of Wembley Stadium and the FA Cup as well as providing sportswear and soccer balls.  But despite Nike's match balls not receiving criticism like the Adidas Telstar 18, the company's contract with the England team, which runs until 2030, may end up inadvertently affecting the team's preparation for the World Cup. And with sponsorship deals more and more a part of clubs' and players' income, the effects of such sponsorship deals on performance can be easily overlooked.

Boots manufacturers like to make it seem like their latest designs will turn even the most average pub-side clogger into Messi or Ronaldo, but rather than having this 'Jimmy Grimble' effect, the wrong pair of soccer boots could impair performance, and even lead to injury. Towards the end of 2017, Manchester United's Marouane Fellaini sued New Balance, claiming that his boots were defective and hurting his feet to the extent that he couldn't sleep properly. And in the past, several high-profile metatarsal injuries were blamed on the thin, lightweight designs of modern boots. As well as the risk of injury, the psychological effect can't be discounted. Even (spoiler alert) Jimmy Grimble's 'magic boots' turned out to be just a placebo in the end.

The companies that sponsor players obviously want those players to do well so that their brand benefits by association, but when players are offered multi-million dollar deals to sign with a particular brand, being able to perform at the absolute peak of their ability might not be the only factor on their mind.

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