Ezio Simeonelli, President of the Serie A League, recently announced in an interview that the league will replace its match ball.
Serie A has been forced to replace the controversial fluorescent orange match ball that has been in use since the 12th round of the league. The replacement will take effect in early 2026 at the start of the
second half of the season, rather than immediately. This decision was made after numerous colour-blind fans complained about being unable to distinguish the ball on the pitch.
Simeonelli said: “We have received many legitimate protests about this. Some people cannot see the ball clearly due to colour blindness, so we have asked the supplier to provide new match balls in advance. 25 balls are needed per match, 500 per week, plus training balls for each team. They have started producing all new balls in highly visible colours, but it will take some time to replace these orange ones. This is a less than ideal choice—we will switch back to yellow or white. It will take time to replace these orange balls, and objectively speaking, it is indeed a disappointing option. It looks nice but lacks practicality.”
