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tor of public relations at the sports giant.
“In actual fact, the Brazuca owes
its many highly praised properties to its
outer skin,” says Thomas Michaelis, pro-
ject manager for ball development at
Bayer MaterialScience. “It comprises a
total of five layers which ensure optimal
ball contact and prevent any moisture
absorption.”
While the surface of conventional
soccer balls consists of 12, 16 or even 32
panels, the Brazuca is made up of only
six of identical shape. This has major ad-
vantages as the more panels are used to
cover the surface, the more seams there
are that could absorb moisture. Fewer
elements mean that the ball is more du-
rable and more resistant to the elements.
Typically Brazilian
Even the creation of the name, Bra-
zuca, is typical of the soccer-crazed na-
tion: more than a million Brazilian fans
voted on the issue and chose it with a
clear majority of over 70 percent. This is
a first in the history of the world football
association, which had previously chosen
the name of the official match ball itself.
While fans continue to eagerly an-
ticipate the start of the mammoth sports
event, the Brazuca has already stepped
onto the world stage. But when this
World Cup is history, Adidas will be back
at work developing the next official ball
for the World Cup as the contract with
FIFA has been extended to 2030.
Protection from the elements
The weather in Brazil is wildly erratic
with scorching heat, then heavy rain. The
70,000 spectators at the new Estádio Na-
cional, one of the venues for this year’s
soccer World Cup, have to be protected
against both. The solution is an extraor-
dinary roof structure that is every bit as
beautiful as it is functional. Sheets of
a transparent, high-performance plastic
from Bayer MaterialScience fend off the
rain and the sun’s rays.
These sheets, each ten meters long,
cover some 7,500 square meters of the
roof’s inner ring. They have a coating that
repels ultraviolet rays while at the same
time letting through enough light so the
grass on the field can thrive. The circu-
lar suspension roof is not just extremely
functional, it is also another architectural
highlight in the Brazilian capital, which
has been declared a World Heritage Site
in recognition of its numerous excep-
tional structures.
Exceptional ideas
The Estádio Nacional is just one of
many sports venues around the world
where creative concepts and unique
structures have been made possible with
the help of Bayer plastics. From the shim-
mering, honey-colored Amber Arena
in Gdansk, Poland, built for the 2012
European Championship, to the Spyri-
don Louis Olympic stadium in Athens,
Greece, which was the primary venue for
the 2004 Summer Games – the plastic’s
advantages are evident everywhere.
Another Bayer material boasting
similarly good properties is also being
used at the World Cup in Brazil, but as
markings on the ground rather than the
roof. Plastic sheets with tiny bumps will
help blind and visually impaired fans to
find their way around the crowded soc-
cer stadiums.
The way-finding system is already
in use at other locations in the South
American country such as banks, shop-
ping centers and even subway stations.
The system makes it easier for everyone,
even people with normal vision, to find
the right track more easily.
When the soccer World Cup kicked
off in Brazil in mid-June, it will be the
country’s coldest season. It can still get
incredibly hot, though, which is one
more stress factor for the players. To help
them withstand the rigours of a tourna-
ment in a tropical country, they can wear
special functional clothing beneath their
soccer jersey that enhances strength and
stamina. This is made possible by a tex-
tile coating for which Bayer MaterialSci-
ence provides the components.
The functional clothing from Adi-
das is lightweight, comfortable and fits
snugly against the body, but an athlete
hardly feels it at all. The trick is elas-
tic bands incorporated in the garments
that have a special coating based on
Impranil® raw materials from Bayer.
The effect is all the more obvious, how-
ever: elastic surfaces printed onto the
shirts and pants store energy temporar-
ily when stretched and return it to the
athlete as he or she continues to move.
Not only does this give the athletes
greater stamina, it also improves their
posture. Furthermore, it helps to avoid
unwanted muscle vibration.
TECH
The circular suspended roof of the new Estadio Nacional represents an
architectural milestone in Brasilia
Techfit™ PowerWeb™ functional un-
dergarments from adidas are highly
elastic and return to their original
shape after being stretched