Preparations for the World Cup to be held in Qatar in 2022 are slowly being completed. The ball named Al Rihla, previously developed by Adidas, and now the mascot of the 2022 World Cup, managed to divide social media users into two.
Why is the World Cup mascot and ball criticized?
Adidas designed a soccer ball for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. The ball was named ‘Al Rihla’, meaning ‘journey’ in Arabic, and is allegedly the fastest ball ever used in a football tournament.
According to Adidas, the ball named Al Rihla improves hitting accuracy and consistency. Developed with a speed shell to improve aerodynamics as well as increase However, all these features could not prevent the Al Rihla ball from causing controversy on social media.
Users said the ball looked like it was designed with water-based ink and glue. Many football writers also expressed doubts about the design of the ball.
Adidas Design Director Franziska Loeffelmann, on the other hand, claimed that the new design allows the ball to maintain its speed while floating in the air. Expressing that they designed the “fastest and most accurate World Cup ball ever”, Loeffelmann said that they opened the door to radical innovations.
The 2022 World Cup mascot, introduced the other day, La’eeb is also a part of social media. managed to get on the agenda. La’eeb means super talented actress in Arabic. The official mascot of the World Cup Qatar 2022, according to FIFA, will be “full of energy and will instill a love of football in everyone”.
The official mascot of the previous World Cup (2018 World Cup) was Zabivaka, which means “scorer” in Russian. The mascot of the 2014 World Cup held in Brazil was Fuleco (Futebol and Ecologia), whose name was formed by combining two Portuguese words.
La’eeb for Qatar, however, is receiving more criticism than the mascots of the past two years. Many social media users think that the mascot has a meaningless design.
What do you think of the 2022 World Cup mascot and ball? Do not forget to share your views with us in the comments section or on the SDN Forum.
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