Football: Aerodynamics of the perfect free kick

Football has seen many innovations during its 150-year history. But few have affected the game as profoundly as technological changes to the aerodynamic properties of the ball. For nearly 40 years the ball's panel pattern followed the classic hexagon-pentagon format with 32 panels, but in 2006 the design changed radically.

In the World Cup in Germany that year, the Teamgeist ball had only 14 panels. Then in South Africa 2010 the Jabulani ball featured only eight, and in Brazil 2014 there were just six on the Brazuca. The ball being used at Euro 2016 in France, the Beau Jeu, is essentially a derivative of the Brazuca with identical panel design, so for the moment six appears to be the ideal number of panels.