With the World Cup just eight months away, Adidas unveiled the official ball of the competition in New York on Thursday. Named Trionda in tribute to the three host countries (United States, Canada, and Mexico), it features a unique connection to better assist referees.

Three colorful waves to better symbolize the excitement and cheers that will flood stadiums across North America next June, and a dose of tech to anchor it in modernity. Trionda, the official ball of the 2026 World Cup, was unveiled Thursday in New York. "The most advanced ever," assures its manufacturer Adidas, which, following its first attempt in 2022 in Qatar, has injected a dose of technology into the ball that will command all the attention.

"But it doesn't change the feeling or the capabilities," assures Hannes Schaefke, Director of Sports Concepts and Football Innovation at Adidas. He's one of the men behind this connected ball that will roll and bounce on American, Canadian, and Mexican pitches during the competition. Three host countries are represented on this Trionda, which pays tribute to them, with a bonus motif for each: the star and blue for the United States, red and the maple leaf for Canada, and green and the Eagles for Mexico.

An invisible sensor for players

And under this original design - gone are the hexagonal surfaces to create roundness, welcome to the triple-arm formats that intersect to better envelop the ball - we find a multitude of sensors (gyroscope, accelerometer, orientation, impact, etc.) within a module called IU (Inertial Measurement Unit).

This sensor is positioned opposite the valve, inside the ball. It will record each of its movements (position, acceleration, rotation speed, etc.) and transmit the data in real time to the video assistance system (VAR). This sensor is primarily designed to help referees and improve the game experience.

"The idea is to relieve the pressure on referees. They have to make the right decisions quickly in a game that's constantly evolving," explains Hannes Schaefke. "We wanted to give them a technological tool that would take some of the pressure off them."

Trionda isn't here to help you figure out how many kilometers Ousmana Dembélé covered during the match, how many balls Lamine Yamal touched, or whether Gianluigi Donnarumma made as many saves as in the previous match. It will detect individual contacts, especially those that are difficult to perceive, such as a hand, which isn't that of a goalkeeper, at the moment the ball left a player's foot during a shot or a pass. This will greatly help with offside situations. It's the chip contained in the ball that will signal it to a referee who couldn't have missed it. Just as it will be able to better locate itself in space and notify a goal-line crossing.

At Adidas, this is seen as a crucial step forward to ensure the game maintains its rhythm and fluidity. "During the 2022 World Cup (with the first-ever connected ball, editor's note), the technology reduced the time needed for VAR to make a decision by 70% compared to a situation without a connected ball," he recalls.

Saving time and a lot of hope

To achieve this result and make the integrated sensor obsolete, the German equipment manufacturer had to conduct extensive tests. It is also pleased that this small 16-gram sensor does not make the ball heavier than the others. It must be said that, to compensate, counterweights have been integrated into the other panels to balance everything in the air.

"Players, both goalkeepers and forwards, can't tell it apart from the same model without the sensor," says Hannes Schaefke, after conducting blind tests with "the best clubs and players in the world." "We were called crazy when we talked about inserting a sensor, but we managed to make it completely undetectable," says Hannes Schaefke. For everything to work properly, it's necessary to install anchor points in the stadium to which the sensor will send signals. This will allow it to better detect substitutions and interventions.

A technological ball inevitably means a need to recharge it. And this will obviously be wireless charging, thanks to a built-in battery and small supports placed on the sidelines of the World Cup pitches. But this doesn't make Trionda any more fragile than the others. In addition to having to work on ergonomics, trajectory, balance, and aerodynamics, Adidas has also focused heavily on another aspect of the ball's resistance: that of the varying weather conditions that will prevail during the competition.

Between the dry pitches of Mexico and the sometimes wetter pitches of Canada, matches at altitude or by the sea, the ball will undergo significant environmental variations, but the experience it provides must remain constant. A big task for the teams facing a complex challenge when there are three host countries.

As in 2022, the World Cup ball will also rely on technology to facilitate the flow of matches and support refereeing in some way. Adidas doesn't want to be overwhelmed by data or store too much of it. But that doesn't stop the brand from looking further ahead and measuring "the enormous possibilities" beyond refereeing assistance. "Ball tracking was the last frontier in performance monitoring. With this technology, we can imagine analyzing the frequency of touches, the speed of a dribble, or even the impact of a shot, but using data in a specific and useful way," predicts Hannes Schaefke. A ball to reinvent performance monitoring, to make football even more exhilarating. A ball that will thrill the crowd, a World Cup ball...