Great question — answering as the UphillTech team:
Why do certain soccer balls have different panel patterns on them? As technology advances, a soccer ball that holds its shape, provides true flight, and reduces air resistance is typically preferred. Many different designs (including those pictured above) strive to achieve such. 1950 World Cup Soccer Ball. Soccer balls during that era were made of irregular, large, flat , and simple panels. This affected its ability to hold its shape. Soccer balls today utilize more curved , complex panels. A mathematical look on the topology of soccer balls can be found here for reference. Is there controversy between each style? The "Teamgeist" soccer ball pictured above was used in the 2006 World Cup....
Full answer by user527: https://sports.stackexchange.com/a/1680 (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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