The Adidas Telstar was the official match ball of the 1970 FIFA World Cup in Mexico. It was the first World Cup ball to use the now-familiar truncated icosahedron for its design, consisting of 12 black pentagonal and 20 white hexagonal panels. The name came from the Telstar communications satellite, which was launched in 1962 and was the first to transmit live television signals across the Atlantic. The ball was designed to stand out on black-and-white TV broadcasts, which were still common at that time. The ball was made of leather and had a polyurethane coating that improved its water resistance and durability.
