Objective: This study aims to compare the basic aerodynamic characteristics of the official Qatar World Cup soccer ball with those of the official Korean soccer balls. Method: In this study, wind tunnel experiments were conducted to compare the fundamental aerodynamic properties of two commonly used domestic soccer balls, the Star and Nassau, with the Al Rihla, the official ball of the 2022 Qatar World Cup. Results: The findings revealed that the Nassau soccer ball exhibited changes in aerodynamic characteristics depending on its orientation, particularly at low speeds (below 15 m/s), while the Al Rihla showed variations in aerodynamic characteristics at medium to high speeds (15 m/s to 35 m/s) based on its orientation. Furthermore, the results of lift and side force variations indicated that the Star soccer ball exhibited larger changes compared to other soccer balls, suggesting that it may exhibit the most irregular flight path during strong shots (around 30 m/s or approximately 100 km/h). However, there were no differences in aerodynamics observed among the soccer balls in the medium-speed range (20~25 m/s). Conclusion: The comparison of aerodynamics between the Korean soccer balls and the most recently used World Cup official ball showed that, while the Korean balls exhibited slightly greater changes in lift and side forces compared to the World Cup ball, there were no significant differences in most of the aerodynamic characteristics.
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