Recognizing a fake match ball is very important. Certainly if you spent a lot of money buying one.

Fake balls are always made from lower grade materials, like f.e. PVC (polyvinylchloride). This means that the outer casing is much harder. Also the inner materials are cheaper.

You can also "smell" it. PVC has a different smell than high grade PU (polyurethane). You must try this, you will see, eh, smell.

Polyurethane is still the best material for outer casings. Sometimes this is mixed with microfibres. This makes the ball even softer to the touch.

For bladders you have 2 choises: butyl or latex.

Latex is softer to the touch but looses air over time.
Butyl is mostly uses in basket balls. And you will notice that ball will always be fully inflated.
But Butyl has one downside: it's harder to the touch. But If you have a soft outer casing, the ball will be better in flight. F.e. the Adidas Roteiro had a butyl bladder.

If you have question about a ball for which you are uncertain if it's a high quality or fake ball, let me

know.

Ivan

i dont know anyone who has ever bought a fake matchball ! or even herd of anyone who has ! go to a shop and get a good £25 ball and you will know its not fake !!

stupid

Before you start to call people stupid, I suggest you get a decent grasp on the English language.
And yes, there are numerous balls on Ebay that are fake. We are talking about match balls here, and not replicas. This thread is mainly for people who would like to get a nice match ball for a good price, see one on Ebay, and then want to know if it is authentic or not. Good deals do exist, but there are many dishonest people out there.

But you can't really "smell" the ball over eBay

No you can't smell over eBay so how could you tell over eBay if it was fake?

Please do not clog up the thread with useless nonsense. Smelling a ball to tell if it is authentic is just one of the things you can do to tell if a ball is authentic. You can tell if shirts and boots are authentic on Ebay just by looking at them or by the feedback of someone who has bought from a certain seller. Not Ebay feedback, but the opinions of people on SP who have bought stuff on Ebay.
TopCyber, can you tell if this Teamgeist World Cup ball is authentic?

The ball looks real to me. Unfortunately the picture isn't sharp enough to be certain.
The ball has the typical 14 panels. The case also looks normal. It has all the graphics it requires.

Ivan

TopCyber thanks for posting this it's useful and interesting to know the words for the materials. For anyone who thinks they can't get fake balls in their local soccer shops think again. I've bought fake balls across south east Asia and China and found the same ones in shops in N. America being sold for stupid prices.

thanks for the advice TOPcyber, im pretty sure i have a fake ball but it was for 10 dollars, i always have to pump it too around 4-5 days or may even less, it doesn't get deflated but it does get too soft
i shoulda spent my money on a 15 dollar ball which is probably real at the Dick's Sporting Goods but its too late now, until my ball is lost or destroyed i'll get a new one
i appreciate your advice and effort

I've only ever encountered 1 fake match ball on ebay. it was an attempt of a teamgeist, it had the 14 panel design only it was stitched not glued, and apparently the colours on it wore off (according to other members who have purchased).

i only buy older match balls because you can get them for half price if you wait for the new series of balls to come out

Hey Ivan, is this Roteiro ball authentic? Are the rest of the balls he sells/has sold authentic as well?

Also, what about this Adipure ball? It is different than the Adipure Competition, but it is also different than the cheaper Adipure balls as well.

Why did Adidas name this ball the Teamgeist Replique? Don't the so-called Replique balls usually cost only around 10-20usd? The ball in the link that I posted isn't a top of the range ball, but it certainly isn't a cheaper ball like the replique balls.
On Eurosport, there are like six Adidas thermal-bonded balls below 90usd. And there are a couple of PU balls for below 50usd. The Teamgeist Club and Euro 2008 Match (it should be called Match II, as that is what it says on it).

the roteiro is real. threelion is a legit seller.

the adipure ball is fifa inspected, but i think all of them are since they are designed for training. i havent seen the competition ball but i could imagine it to be a better version of the ball, thermally bonded panels maybe?

adidas named it the teamgeist replique ball because its the replica of the 14 panel design but made in the conventional 32panel design but with thermal bonding used on the PU material. i would consider any ball with thermal bonded panels a top range ball. usually i see the range like this

1. bottom range = replicas, cheap material
2. middle range = fifa inspected balls, but very similar to replicas
3. top range = fifa inspected balls, adidas = PU material and top tier nike's.

Top range balls will always have the "Fifa Approved" logo. This means that the balls have been tested for circumference, weight, loss of air over time, etc.

oops my mistake haha. thanks for the correction

Yes xinzhitan14, the Adipure Competition ball is made using thermal bonding. It can be found right here.

oo thats a ball worth getting!

Indeed, the ball looks very nice. And it looks like the real deal.... So, let yourself go :-)

Btw, today I received a Mitre Pro 100T for free for my collection. I got it from the dealer in my country.
The ball has the logo from a soccer team of the first division, Racing Genk.

You can find it at http://blog.iplsoft.com/?p=54

Oh, I get it with the replique thing. It has the top of the range thermal bonding, but not the same panel design. But what about stitched balls, are the lower quality replicas of them called replique? They would still have the same amount of panels, right? Well, I guess the only top of the range balls that are still stiched and are used in top leagues are the Nike balls, and I don't recall them having a replique ball. I think they normally have lower versions of balls, but call them different names, and not match ball replicas. I wish Adidas would do the same. I can see the cheaper thermal bonding balls called "replique" or "replica", as they still have thermal bonding, which is the same stuff on the top balls.
Honestly, I don't really view all the thermal-bonded balls as top of the range balls. Even soccer.com has two thermal-bonded balls in their "Match Ball" section, which has the cheap balls. If you do view the all the thermal bonded balls as top of the range, then there really are not really any mid-range balls.
Well, I guess I'm wrong there, as the Euro 2008 Match ball is stitched, made of PU, and not FIFA approved. I guess that is a true mid-range ball.
I wish Adidas would just make a mid-range ball and low range ball for every top-range ball, and then a couple of good cheap training balls instead of clogging up their ball range. Well, I guess just a low end ball and some training balls, as the thermal bonding technology is becoming cheaper all the time, and it is Fifa approved. You can get the Adipure Competition and a couple other balls for around the same price as the Euro 2008 Match, so it's not really worthwhile to try and make affordable mid-range balls.
I think that the thermal-bonding stuff is cheaper to make than we think, as shown by their price being just as low as that stitched Euro 2008 Match ball.

Does anyone know if this (and/or others from the same seller) are legit?

ebay

Any help is appreciated.

It looks like an authentic Adidas re-production of the 1970 Telstar ball. It most certainly is not an original 1970's, they are extremely rare and no one would sell them for a starting price of just $99.99....

http://cgi.ebay.com/ADIDAS-WAWA-ABA-AFRICA...ksid=p1638.m122

Cant tell if its fake...page looks a bit dodgy...

The ball is not the high end version but I think it is legit. The price is shocking for a ball of that quality though, I could probably pick one up for about £15.

It's not the original Wawa Aba match ball, this is the Wawa Aba Capitano. The seller probably "forgot" to mention it....

Oh, DUH! I didnt see the panels. My bad guys.

Hmm..so whats the cheapest I could maybe get a wawa aba for?

I looked everywhere myself but couldn't find one in the US other than the overpriced eBay offers. Soccer.com said that they are NOT going to stock it for the US, it's not even in the US Adidas catalog for the Spring! So I just ordered one from ProDirectSoccer in the UK. The total including shipping was GBP73 = $144 (you don't have to pay the tax when ordering outside the UK).

Here is the Link

http://www.prodirectsoccer.com/prodinfo.as...RAND=1&SS=1