The Nike Premier League ball 2022/23 is dripping in nostalgia, celebrating 30 years of the greatest league on the planet
(Image credit: David Price/Arsenal FC via Getty Images)
The Nike Premier League ball 2022/23 has been revealed – and it's a thing of absolute beauty.
The new Prem season kicks off in August and to celebrate 30 years of the league, Nike have delivered this masterpiece of a football complete with gold X's. X, of course, is the Roman numeral for 10 – and while looking at any side of the sphere, you can only ever seen three X's. Three lots of 10… yep, you've got it.
Nike Premier League ball 2022/23: What ball will be used in the Prem next season?
As with the last few years, Nike are supplying a Flight ball to the Premier League. This is the American manufacturer's premier model of match ball.
The Flight was a result eight-year project that those boffins at Nike carried out to improve consistency and trajectory of footballs flying through the air. AerowSculpt technology makes for improved aerodynamics while those ridges mean that air can travel around the ball itself when it flies.
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(Image credit: Nike)
(Image credit: Nike)
And once again, there's a custom design on the ball. Serie A have also had Nike Flight balls in previous seasons but unlike in Italy, we get a distinctive design specific to our league, which is nice.
This one draws on the very start of the Premier League and the original Mitre balls – one of the greatest match balls of all time – that were pinged by the likes of Shearer and Le Tissier back in the day. Those balls were considerably less tech-heavy but they had V-like chevrons emblazoned on them, which Nike have drawn inspiration from with their own X's. You can see it, right?
(Image credit: Getty)
Even Mitre themselves have played spot the difference, with a cheeky Instagram post noting the similarities.
Mark White has been at on FourFourTwo since joining in January 2020, first as a staff writer before becoming content editor in 2023. An encyclopedia of football shirts and boots knowledge – both past and present – Mark has also represented FFT at both FA Cup and League Cup finals (though didn't receive a winners' medal on either occasion) and has written pieces for the mag ranging on subjects from Bobby Robson's season at Barcelona to Robinho's career. He has written cover features for the mag on Mikel Arteta and Martin Odegaard, and is assisted by his cat, Rosie, who has interned for the brand since lockdown.
