FOOTBALL is always evolving, but the actual ball hasn't changed that much in design over the years — until now.
Adidas has announced its official Euro 2024 football with a never-before-seen feature designed to revolutionise matches.
Adidas' new football for the Euros is called the "Fussballliebe" — which translates into English as "love of football".
The German manufacturer's latest effort features technology that will change the way the game is officiated.
The "robot ball" can track stats — such as ball speed and rotations.
In addition, it's claimed that the ball will also assist in handball and penalty decisions.
Similar technology was used with success at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
Premier League fans have grown tired of watching VAR officials drawing lines on a screen.
But at the 2024 Euros, semi-automated offsides will be used thanks in part to the Fussballliebe.
It will feature Connected Ball Technology, which enables quick semi-automated offside decisions.
This tech can help VAR officials in their decision making with Adidas claiming it will "reduce time spent resolving handball and penalty incidents".
Euro 2024 will mark the first time in the competition's long history that semi-automated offsides will be used.
VAR was first introduced in 2016.
Both ITV and BBC will be showing Euro 2024 matches.
All the games will also be available on BBC iPlayer and ITVX respectively.
TV for the knockout rounds of the tournament will be announced in due course.
However, some allocation for them has already been made.
ITV will have the first three picks plus the fifth and seventh picks in the Round of 16 games.
BBC will then have the first and third picks for the Quarter-finals.
For the Semi-final, ITV will have the first pick.
Both broadcasters will then show the July 14 Final on their respective channels.
Diego Maradona scored the most controversial goal of all time on the biggest stage, turning cheating into an art form.
Peter Shilton was beaten by Maradona’s Hand of God goal, which knocked England out of the 1986 World Cup after a heart-breaking 2-1 loss to Argentina in Mexico City.
As well as a football rivalry — which had been spawned 20 years earlier — this clash came just four years after the Falklands War.
England beat Argentina in the last eight on the way to 1966 World Cup success in a bad tempered affair, which saw Antonio Rattin sent off and Three Lions boss Sir Alf Ramsey call the South Americans “animals” and stopped his players from swapping shirts with their opponents at full-time.
But things had changed in two subsequent decades.
Argentinian superstars Ossie Ardiles and Ricky Villa had joined Tottenham.
But Maradona — the world’s most expensive player TWICE — was the clear danger man.
He had been controversially left out of Argentina’s 1978 World Cup-winning squad, and was sent off four years later in Spain.
Maradona came to Mexico with a point to prove.
A Gary Lineker-inspired England recovered from a slow start to blow Poland and Paraguay away, while Argentina finished top of a group which contained world champions Italy before beating Uruguay.
Mexico City’s Azteca Stadium was packed with 114,000 fans to watch the international heavyweights battle for a place in the last-four.
Shilton kept England in the game as Argentina dominated the first half.
But it was six minutes after the interval that the game sprung to life thanks to the ‘Hand of God’.
Maradona received the ball just inside the England half, before whizzing past Glenn Hoddle.
He runs at the Three Lions defence and tries a one-two with Jorge Valdano — only for Steve Hodge to intercept the return pass.
However, the Aston Villa man’s attempted clearance/pass back to Shilton loops up towards the six-yard box and Maradona, with his left fist tucked in behind his head, rose up to beat the England goalkeeper to the punch.
The Napoli man immediately wheeled away in celebration, urging his team-mates to join him and fool referee, Al Bin Nasser, that all was well.
Terry Fenwick led the English protests, but the Tunisian official awarded the goal.
Maradona showed just why he was considered the best player in the world just four minutes later as he scored the ‘goal of the century’.
In a 2020 interview, the 125-capped former Three Lions No.1 said:
“He didn’t out-jump me, he punched the ball in with his hand.
“People moan about VAR these days but it would have been brilliant for us in that instance.
“He admitted to it, saying it was the Hand of God, but he didn’t apologise or show any remorse.
“His attitude explains why there’s animosity.
“We’ve been offered a number of times to put it to bed. But he won’t apologise, and I won’t shake hands with him or acknowledge him.
“He’s the greatest player in history but I don’t respect him as a sportsman and I never will.”
Maradona finally offered an apology of sorts in an exclusive Sun interview 22 years on from that World Cup quarter-final.
In 2008 he told Sun man Tom Wells: “If I could apologise and go back and change history I would do.
“But the goal is still a goal, Argentina became world champions and I was the best player in the world.
“I can’t change history. All I can do is move on.”
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