http://www.soccer.com/IWCatProductP...n_Id=1&pcount=&Product_Id=79107&Key_id=843030 Has Anyone Ever Played With This Ball? Its called Patrick Bastia. I'm not sure if this ball is any good, but its FIFA APPROVED according to eurosport (soccer.com) and only $11.
FIFA specs basically just check for air retention, shape true-ness, size and weight, but as Becks said, don't expect a PVC ball to offer great touch. You can probably count on the durability though. Check out the Adidas Tango Samba http://www.soccer.com/IWCatProductPage.process?Merchant_Id=1&Section_Id=120&pcount=&Product_Id=41895 If you don't intended to spend that much on a ball, this would be a great buy. I have one for leisure/kicking around, and it's a pretty decent ball. It's on sale for a pretty good price cause they used to retail for $24-$30USD. I have the silver one, but here the only colours left are yellow and orange. I'd go with yellow.
Some of the $20 and less balls by Adidas are decent practice balls. Such as the Tango Club MLS, if they still make them.
i think the description is too good to be true. i did a search on google the other day and no other website said it was fifa approved. i just bought some adidas finale sportivo balls for like $25 each + shipping from this one company in CA. so i'm happy.
Has anyone else ever had a cbc ball? I know, I had never heard of it either but I got one for my b-day and it has decent touch and has been really really durable(if you don't mind color fading) and is really cheap. I saw one in a Duhnam's add for less than $10. In my opinion its a great ball at a great price.
I just picked up a Nike Viento 2 (only $11.95) and was really impressed. Nice touch and pretty good looking. http://www.soccerstore.com/shopping/product55.html It seems the quality of the cheaper balls are getting much better over the last few years.
$11.95 says that ball has a very low life span. thats the problem with buying cheap balls. They look and feel nice, but they last like a week. They warp easily, air retention quailty fades away, and the ball can rip or pop with a nice powerful shot hitting the crossbar. My opinion, go buy a $30-$50 ball, you'll get your money's worth.
top level match balls aren't meant to maintain air over a long period of time. It should release air to avoid stretching the seams.
Actually, cheap PVC balls sometimes do last longer than more expensive PU balls, because PU sacrifices durability for soft touch. My friends and I use cheap, under $20 PVC balls, like the Nike Viento, to play street and although you can't expect the graphics/paint job to be in great condition after shooting against brickwalls and dribbling on not-so-smooth concrete, the air retention and shape of ball are still completely intact. The aesthetic condition would suggest otherwise though. Obviously if you were playing on grass, the condition of the ball would be much better. Paying more for a ball will usually get you better play characteristics, ie. touch, but possibly less durability.
Where did you find finale sportivo's for $25 ? I use that ball thats a great price and I'll be needing a new one soon. thanks
I ordered from soccerfanatix.com, but I never recieved any merchandise. It has been a month and I just cancelled it yesterday because I couldn't wait any longer. They charged the credit card too and when I checked their website it said it was still processing. How long does it take to process one &^#*ing order... Worst customer service ever, only way to reach them is by e-mail. Anyways, I'll probably just order something from Eurosport.