Characteristics of modern soccer balls

The purpose of this study was to compare the basic aerodynamic characteristics of a previously developed 8-panel soccer ball with those of a new 32-panel soccer ball by conducting wind tunnel tests. Experimental results show that the critical Reynolds number (Re) was approximately 3.3 × 105 for the 8-panel ball and approximately 2.4 × 105 for the new ball, i.e., the Re of the new ball was slightly lower than that of the 8-panel ball. We conclude that the aerodynamic drag coefficient of the new 32-panel ball is closer to that of a golf ball than an 8-panel ball.