Footgolf ball makers target Jabulani shortage as boxed prices exceed £500

Footgolf manufacturers are developing alternatives to the Adidas Jabulani as dwindling supplies of the discontinued football push boxed examples above £500, according to reporting by the Guardian. Several companies have introduced specialist balls costing about £100, but players and manufacturers interviewed for the report say matching the older ball's performance remains a challenge.

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The Jabulani was designed for the 2010 football World Cup, where players criticised its unpredictable movement in the air. It has since become prized in footgolf, which involves kicking a ball around a course and completing 18 holes in the fewest strokes. The Guardian reports that its construction, using eight thermally bonded panels, offers distance advantages when struck with the consistent spin used by footgolfers.

Ben Clarke, who has finished at the top of the sport's world rankings five times, told the newspaper that he last bought a Jabulani about three years ago for roughly £250. He now keeps three boxed examples alongside other Adidas models from the same period. Clarke regularly inflates his collection to help preserve the balls, including those that have never been used, and said one recently began leaking through a panel.

Sean Rontree, a director of footgolf's governing body in England, said discussions with Adidas had not produced a route to renewed production. According to Rontree, an order of around 10,000 balls would have been needed to make manufacturing viable, a quantity beyond their reach. He warned that the remaining market supply would eventually run out, with the preferred models having been out of production for close to 15 years.

The equipment shortage has encouraged competing products from Malaysia's FGB, Dutch brand Squb, Britain's Triero and Brazil's Birdie. The Guardian reports that all four have released balls specifically for footgolf. The market includes the 1,200 players who took part in this summer's Footgolf World Cup in Mexico.

FGB founder Jeffrey Cottam said his company's third-generation ball still falls around five to seven metres short of the Jabulani for distance. He identified reproducing its repeated bounce along the fairway as a key development goal. Cottam hopes to release a stronger-performing model next year, but acknowledged that manufacturers have yet to match the Jabulani across every aspect of play.