Adidas Tango

Historical Adidas Tango

The Adidas Tango is a successful family and brand of association footballs first introduced as the Tango Durlast in 1978 for the 1978 FIFA World Cup in Argentina. Variations of the design had been produced for various competitions including the FIFA World Cup, the UEFA European Championship and the Summer Olympics. The Tango balls have had different names applied to them to distinguish them in their construction, the competitions they have been used for, and even if they are match or replica balls.

In 2011, Adidas introduced the Tango 12, but besides the name there are no particular similarities between the new ball and the old Adidas Tango family.

Tango Durlast

The 1978 Tango Durlast has twenty identical panels with 'triads' created the impression of 12 circles. Like its predecessors, the Adidas Tango Durlast was made of genuine leather and boasted the shiny waterproofing Durlast coating.

Tango España

Adidas Tango España.

The Tango España by Adidas was the official match ball of 1982 FIFA World Cup in Spain. The Tango España had improved water resistant qualities through its rubberized seams. These were not very resistant and resulted in the ball having to be changed several times during some games. This ball was the last genuine leather ball to be used in the World Cup.^[1]

Tango variations

Year	Tango variation	Competition	Additional information
1978	Adidas Tango Durlast	1978 FIFA World Cup	The ball was initially introduced as the Tango Durlast, however further production models were also branded as Tango River Plate. Replica variations include the Tango Rosario [2]
1980	Adidas Tango River Plate	1980 European Football Championship	Tango River Plate [3]
1982	Adidas Tango España	1982 FIFA World Cup	Replica variations include the Tango Barcelona.[2] Other variations include the Tango Mundial, Tango Alicante, Tango Malaga and Tango Indoor [4]
1984	Adidas Tango Mundial	1984 European Football Championship
	Adidas Tango Sevilla	1984 Summer Olympics	Used for the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Olympic Games - compared to previous Tango the only addition is the competition logo [5][6]
1988	Adidas Tango Europa	1988 European Football Championship
	Adidas Tango Séoul	1988 Summer Olympics
2012	Adidas Tango 12	2012 European Football Championship	New design Adidas Tango, including Adidas Tango Argentina 12, Torfabrik, Comoequa, The Albert, Prime and Adidas Tango 12

Other variations of the Tango ball seen include: Tango Roma, Tango Napoli, Tango Munich, Tango Scorpion, Tango Mendoza, Tango Gol, Tango Indoor Ball, Tango Tournoi ^[7]

For the newer family of footballs that are branded Tango please see Adidas Tango 12.

Use in heraldry

Russian football team Mordovia Saransk uses the ball in their logo

See also

• Adidas Tango 12

References

1. "Soccerball World". Soccerball World. Retrieved 2014-03-06.
2. "Nightly.net forum on rare soccer balls". Retrieved 9 June 2012.
3. "History of the Official European Championship Match Balls". Retrieved 21 Aug 2014.
4. "Soccer Ball World: Tango Espana". Soccer Ball World. Retrieved 9 June 2012.
5. "Soccer Ball World: Olympic Ball 1984". Soccer Ball World. Retrieved 9 June 2012.
6. "(Spanish) Official ball of LA Olympics". Retrieved 9 June 2012.
7. "Soccer History Online: Match Balls". Archived from the original on 23 June 2012. Retrieved 9 June 2012.

External links

• Adidas ball history
• Soccerball World: History of the World Cup's Match Balls
• The Guardian - The Joy of Six: great footballs
• The History of FIFA World Cup Match Ball