[Saba Sports News] Former England goalkeeper Joe Hart has repeatedly voiced his concerns over the official World Cup match ball in the past, and he recently tested the ball in person to share his fresh take. Hart collaborated with Connor O’Keefe, a goalkeeper content creator on TikTok, to film a joint video. Opening the clip, Hart said: “It’s good to get my hands on the ball. It might sound like I’m trying to cook up some conspiracy theory about this football, but that’s not the case at all — these are just my observations. The usual judgements they make on lofted balls don’t seem to hold up this time around. I thought goals from long aerial efforts would die down, and they did, considering we’re watching the very best players at this tournament.” Following these remarks, Hart put the ball through a series of tests. He dealt with it with relative ease during the first few drills before drawing an interesting comparison. “I just think it’s extremely similar to the Jabulani,” Hart stated. “If you don’t strike or catch it cleanly, it becomes a genuine hazard.”
The editor believes that Joe Hart was named in England’s squad for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. Though he did not feature in any matches at that tournament, he undoubtedly trained extensively with the Jabulani match ball. Hart found that the 2010 ball was far harder to save compared to the official ball used for the 2026 World Cup. As such, while Hart still believes the current tournament ball demands intense concentration from goalkeepers, it is nowhere near as tricky as the Jabulani.