The fact that football is so much more than just a game places extra responsibility on our shoulders. We accept this with a sense of respect and pride but above all with a commitment to maximising football’s potential to improve society.

The role that football plays in supporting development constantly improves the game and promotes it around the world. At FIFA, we defend football’s core values and protect them with concerted action.

The FIFA Quality Concept for Footballs is devoted to the ball – the very heart of the game. Only balls which have passed a rigorous testing procedure are awarded the prestigious “FIFA APPROVED” and “FIFA INSPECTED” quality labels.

Search for these labels and get quality for your game –

no excuses!

About Urs Meier

Urs Meier (born January 22, 1959 in Switzerland) is a retired professional football referee.
He refereed his first game in 1977.

Besides several matches in the UEFA-Cup and the UEFA Champions League he led also various matches during European-Championships (2000 & 2004) and World Cups (1998 & 2002).

The highlights of his successful career were the semi-final at the World Cup 2002 and the Champions-League Final in 2002.
All in all, he refereed 883 games before he led his last match in December 2004.
After his career he appeared as an expert on the German television channel ZDF during the World Cup 2006 and the European Championship 2008.

Currently Urs Meier is a FIFA Instructor and member of the FIFA Strategic Committee.

Statement Urs Meier:

It is about authority.

It is about seeing the whole picture and being able to rely on your team.

It is about intuition. Experience is vital.

As a referee, my main role was to make sure that the rules were respected. Checking the pitch and the equipment was a crucial part of this.

The quality of the ball, as the heart of the game, is decisive.

Thanks to FIFA-certified balls, referees can be assured of the best possible playing conditions.

I strongly recommend that all referees and football players play the game with FIFA INSPECTED and FIFA APPROVED footballs.

Quality for your game. No excuses!"

About Ottmar Hitzfeld

Ottmar Hitzfeld was born in Lörrach, Germany on 12 January 1949.
He was named Ottmar after Ottmar Walter, a member of the Germany FR team that won the 1954 FIFA World Cup™.

Playing career

Hitzfeld was a youth-team player for TuS Stetten before joining the amateur ranks of FV Lörrach. He moved to FC Basel of the Swiss top flight in 1971 and won the Swiss league title there in both 1972 and 1973. He was also the leading goalscorer in Switzerland in 1973.

In 1975, Hitzfeld moved to VfB Stuttgart, who had just been relegated from the German first division. In the next two seasons he played 55 matches in the second division and scored 33 goals. In the 1976-77 season, he was part of the legendary “100-goal strikeforce” (Stuttgart scored 100 goals and conceded only 36) and played a key role in helping Stuttgart return to the top flight. He played 22 games for Stuttgart in 1977-78 and found the net five times before his career took him back to Switzerland, where he played for FC Lugano and FC Lucerne. He hung up his boots in 1983.

Hitzfeld was part of the Germany FR Olympic team in 1972 together with Uli Hoeness. He started five matches and scored in each of these games. Hitzfeld played eight times for Germany FR’s national amateur team.

Coaching career

After calling time upon his playing career, Hitzfeld moved into coaching in Switzerland in 1983 (with SC Zug, FC Aarau and Grasshopper-Club Zurich).

In 1991, he moved to Borussia Dortmund and immediately led them from the lower reaches of the table to second place. The year after, he steered Dortmund to the UEFA Cup final, which they lost over two legs to Juventus.

Hitzfeld and Dortmund won back-to-back league titles in 1995 and 1996, and in 1997, Dortmund met Juventus again in the final of the UEFA Champions League, with the Germans coming out on top this time.

He moved to FC Bayern Munich on 1 July 1998 and claimed a whole host of titles (league champions in 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2008; cup winners in 2000, 2003, 2008; Champions League winners in 2001; Intercontinental Cup winners in 2001).
Together with Ernst Happel, Hitzfeld is only the second coach to have won the Champions League (or European Champion Clubs’ Cup) with two different teams.

He was also named as “the world’s best club coach” by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS) in both 1997 (with Borussia Dortmund) and 2001 (with Bayern Munich).

He has been the coach of the Swiss national team since the summer of 2008. His current goal is to lead Switzerland to the 2010 FIFA World Cup™ in South Africa.

Statement Ottmar Hitzfeld:

"Did I prepare the team to the best of my ability? Did I get the most out of every player? Did I make the right tactical decisions? Did we succeed as a team?

I have always cast a critical eye over all of my decisions. I am ambitious and judge my work by the success I achieve.

In football, it is not just the 11 players on the pitch who can make the difference between victory and defeat – there are other pieces of the puzzle that have to slot together. Whether it is my star striker, my assistant coach or the team masseur, I expect everyone to show passion and total commitment. Nothing can be left to chance. I refuse to compromise – and that also goes for my choice of equipment.

Thanks to the FIFA Quality Concept for Footballs, I know that the ball will be of the highest quality and that it will allow my players to perform to the best of their ability.

You too can work towards success by accepting nothing but the highest quality.

Quality for your game

no excuses!"

About Ramiro Figueiras Amarelle

Ramiro Figueiras Amarelle is one of the best beach soccer players in the world. He was born December 17, 1977, in Ponteceso, Galicia, Spain. He is married to Silvia and father of a little daughter.
Ramiro Amarelle is the captain of the current Spanish national beach soccer team.
Before he began to play beach soccer he played for Deportivo de La Coruña in the Primera Liga (youth´s divisions).
Ramiro Amarelle has been awarded with several awards and gained various titles in the last years.

Below you can find the milestones of his amazing career.

• FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup MVP (Most Valuable Player): 2003, 2008
• FIFA beach Soccer World Cup Bronze Ball (3rd most valuable player) 2005
• FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Silver Shoe (2nd most goals scored): 2008
• Euro Beach Soccer League MVP (Most Valuable Player): 1998, 2000, 2001, 2003
• Euro Beach Soccer League Top Scorer: 1998, 2000, 2005, 2007
• Euro Beach Soccer League Rookie Of The Year: 1998
• Best Rookie of the World Cup: 2000
• Mundialito MVP (Most Valuable Player): 2001
• Copa do Descobrimento MVP (Most Valuable Player): 2001
• World League Top Scorer: 2001
• Serie A Italia Best Player: 2005
• Serie A Italia Top Scorer: 2006
• Copa Italia Top Scorer 2007
• Copa Italia 2006, 2007
• Serie A Italia 2006, 2007
• Member of the Euro All-Star squad selected to play against Brazil in Paris 2004 (France) and Tarragona 2007 (Spain)
• Member of the World All-Star squad selected to play against Brazil in all editions: 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009
• European Champion with the Spanish national team in 1999, 2008, 2009

Statement Ramiro Figueiras Amarelle

"It is spectacular, athletic, acrobatic … but most of all, it is good fun.

Beach soccer is my life!

During my career, I have seen the most beautiful beaches but also all kinds of equipment.

Due to the special surface, we try to keep the ball up in the air as often as possible. That is why the spectators get to see so many spectacular shots and amazing movements. But this is only possible if the ball is of the highest quality.

Thanks to the inclusion of beach soccer in the FIFA Quality Concept for Footballs, we as beach soccer players can be happy that we are assured of the best quality footballs. So we can focus on what makes beach soccer so unique.

Quality for your game, No excuses."