How Big is a Football?

Not many know details about the center of the game, the ball. Here are some details:

A little background:
- the ball used to be inflated pigs bladder but Columbus discovered the rubber ball in his explorations of America
- some pictures with a lot of antique balls http://www.asdiansi.com/anball.htm

Shape, size, weight, pressure, material:
- sphere
- circumference of 68–70 cm (or 27–28 inches)
- 410–450 (or 14–16 ounces)
- 8–12 psi
- leather (not really used anymore), other new materials.

Here is the official ball for the EURO 2008 from last year. As you can see the 32 patches in black and white that were the symbol of football are gone.

The future will bring us microchips in balls so that we will know when the ball has passed a line in the game and the referee doesn't really stand a chance in being accurate.

A major problem today is the exploitation of children in some poor countries for ball production but let's hope that will soon disappear.

Here are the official rules from FIFA regarding the ball:

Decisions of the International F.A. Board

Decision 1
In addition to the requirements of Law 2, acceptance of a ball for
use in matches played in an official competition organized under the
auspices of FIFA or the confederations is conditional upon the ball
bearing one of the following:
• the official “FIFA APPROVED” logo
• the official “FIFA INSPECTED” logo
• the “INTERNATIONAL MATCHBALL STANDARD” logo
Such a logo on a ball indicates that it has been tested officially and
found to be in compliance with specific technical requirements,
different for each logo and additional to the minimum specifications
stipulated in Law 2. The list of the additional requirements specific to
each of the respective logos must be approved by the International
F.A. Board. The institutes conducting the tests are subject to the
approval of FIFA.
Member association competitions may also require the use of balls
bearing any one of these three logos.

Decision 2
In matches played in an official competition organized under the
auspices of FIFA, the confederations or the member associations,
no form of commercial advertising on the ball is permitted, except
for the emblem of the competition, the competition organizer and
the authorized trademark of the manufacturer. The competition
regulations may restrict the size and number of such markings.