SPORTS> Off the Pitch
Some 15 million Cup balls sold since Dec.debut
(AP)
Updated: 2006-06-28 19:55
Sales of the official World Cup soccer balls have given Adidas AG a big kick along.

Chief Executive Herbert Hainer said Wednesday that since the Teamgeist ball -German for team spirit -went on sale in December, about 15 million of the 14-panel, thermobonded balls have been sold worldwide.

Hainer said that the sales results so far were better than the Herzogenaurach-based company's initial forecast of 10 million balls.

It's also better than the 6 million copies of the company's previous World Cup ball, the Fevernova, from 2002.

Players at the World Cup have given the Teamgeist ball a mixed reception. Some say its design makes it travel farther when kicked, although goalkeepers have grumbled that it's harder to stop.

Adidas has developed balls for every World Cup tournament since 1970, when it launched the Telstar with its array of 12 black pentagons and 20 white hexagons.

Despite the increased sales, shares of Adidas were down nearly 1.3 percent to euro35.95 (US$45.17) in Frankfurt trading.