Nike drives off the tee with new Ordem football

Gone are the 32 machine-stitched panels that Nike has gone with for what seems like ages now with the sportswear giant moving to 12 fuse-welded panels in a three-layer casing system that surrounds a poly-blend-wrapped carbon latex bladder that floats freely in the center of the ball. Nike say that the ball is “designed and engineered for a highly sensitive feel and explosive response off the foot.”

Like the ball’s predecessors, Ordem is covered in a subtle texture that is debossed into the panels, meaning that the texture digs in rather than sticks out. The reengineered texture is called “NIKE AEROW TRAC grooves” and it has been created to “channel the air to produce the truest trajectory and most consistent flight” possible, something that Nike’s balls over the past few years have done phenomenally well.

The surface of the ball is bright with the launch colorway a bright orange with black graphic elements. This is the newest generation of Nike’s RaDaR (Rapid Decision and Response) technology and is designed to help players recognize the flight of the ball quicker. The graphics, when the ball is spinning in mid-air, create a flickering effect that makes it “easier to see in a player’s peripheral vision and allowing for faster reactions and decision-making.”