The official match ball for the 2026 FIFA World Cup has made an unlikely stop before the tournament- outer space.Astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) have been studying the Adidas-made Trionda football in microgravity as part of a Nasa experiment examining ball movement, balance and performance, news agency ANI reported citing to the US space agency.Sharing images from the exercise, Nasa said the ISS crew recreated a 2019 study using the official World Cup ball to understand how a football’s balance and centre of mass influence its movement.“The official FIFA World Cup ball went to space,” Nasa said in a post on Instagram.According to the space agency, sports engineers carefully measure and optimise a football’s centre of mass and balance to ensure predictable movement during matches. The ISS crew repeated the experiment to demonstrate the effects of both good and poor balance on a football’s flight characteristics.Nasa said the research has helped scientists better understand how embedded technologies, including match-ball sensors, can affect on-field performance.“Helping to improve the beautiful game is just one of the ways Nasa science done on the International Space Station makes life better for people on Earth,” the agency said.Developed by Adidas, Trionda will be used during the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which will be jointly hosted by Canada, Mexico and the United States.According to FIFA, the name Trionda is derived from a Spanish phrase meaning “three waves”, symbolising the tournament’s three host nations.The ball features red, green and blue design elements representing the three countries. Its four-panel construction forms a triangular shape at the centre, while symbols such as a maple leaf, an eagle and a star pay tribute to Canada, Mexico and the US, respectively.FIFA says the ball incorporates several performance-focused innovations, including deeper seams designed to improve flight stability and embossed surface details aimed at enhancing grip in wet conditions.Trionda is also equipped with connected-ball technology featuring a 500Hz motion sensor chip that transmits real-time movement data to the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) system. The technology is designed to assist officials in making decisions on offsides and other key match incidents.The experiment marks a rare intersection of football and space science, with the official World Cup ball becoming the latest piece of sporting equipment to be tested aboard the ISS.
