Adidas say they warned teams over tournament match ball

Adidas said today that countries such as England who had complained about the ball being used in the World Cup finals only had themselves to blame for not practising enough with it.

“There are players who play in leagues with other balls, there are players who have not played in the Africa Cup of Nations, and players from other federations who have not practised with the ball,” spokesman Thomas Schaikvan claimed. “These are the players who take the most amount of time to get used to it.”

Schaikvan said the Jabulani ball was supplied to all countries in February and had been used extensively in Germany’s Bundesliga as well as by France and Argentina - who are sponsored by Adidas - and other leagues such as Austria, Switzerland, Portugal and USA.



The ball was also tested by Chelsea, Real Madrid and AC Milan. Schaikvan said there had been no complaints but conceded that altitude in South Africa was undoubtedly a factor.

Adidas also had a workshop for World Cup coaches in Sun City in February. “We presented the technology and underlined the requirement to get used to it because it is a different ball and a different technology,” Schaikvan said. “At the same time we also supplied all the federations with the balls.”

The use of the Jabulani is clearly tied to sponsorship deals so the Premier League is prevented from using it because it has its own contract with Nike.

England did not use the ball when they played Egypt in March, or Mexico last month, because of their arrangement with Umbro. But England have trained with it for the past four weeks, since arriving in Austria for their pre-World Cup camp, and it was used against Japan in Graz.

Meanwhile England were last night waiting for the results of another scan on Ledley King’s groin injury after initial fears that he would miss the next three weeks of the World Cup, effectively ruling him out of the tournament.

Harry Redknapp, the Tottenham Hotspur manager, said he expected the adductor muscle problem to mean he would not play again in the competition.

Also sitting out training yesterday were Wayne Rooney, who suffered a kick on an ankle against USA, and Ashley Cole, who also has a sore ankle.