The ’70 ball was designed to be visible on TV and somehow ended up becoming the archetypical soccer ball. That is, I think, a pretty cool story. The soccer ball I grew up with, the one I drew whenever I wanted to draw a soccer ball (always looked ridiculous because drawing icosahedrons is hard if you don’t know what you are doing) as a child is actually just forty years old!

But I don’t think that difference is actually that big. Sure, there is the color and it’s a icosahedron, but just look at a volleyball. They still look like the ’66 ball looked. So this change of shape didn’t have to happen. (Recent design also abandoned the icosahedron – it’s quickly becoming a thing of the past.)

The 66 world cup was in black and white the 1970 was in color!