FRACAS EURO 2016 MATCHBALL BY ADIDAS

The official matchball of the knockout stages has been released. This is 'Fracas'. This ball will decide who advances through the knockout stages and eventually wins the tournament. 

The name of the ball, which translates to 'clamour' in French, was chosen to capture the unpredictability and drama of the knockout stages. The uncertainty is also captured in the red and black design of 'Fracas'. 

Sam Handy, Vice President of Design, explained the thinking behind the new design: “For Fracas, we wanted to be bold with our design direction and create something that incorporated the emotions felt during the latter stages of tournament football. Beau Jeu was all about tactical football; doing what you had to do in order to get to the knock-out stages. Fracas is a more disruptive design. It represents the noise of the crowd and the excitement around a winner-takes-all mentality on the pitch.”

The design and structure of this new ball has been in development for 18 months. The ball takes the best aspects of the Brazuca ball from the 2014 World Cup in Brazil including the innovative panel shape. The ball features improved surface performance which provides enhanced grip and offers increased visibility. Both balls have been tested by players such as Gareth Bale and Iker Casillas. 

The Fracas film is featured below. It features the Adidas PureChaos X16 boots from the Mercury pack and also includes the slogan of Adidas' current campaign: "First Never Follows".