Getty Images December 30, 2025, 3:41 p.m

Serie A president Ezio Simonelli has confirmed that the Italian league will no longer use the orange ball in winter matches. The reason was numerous complaints from fans, in particular people with impaired color perception, who could not see the ball clearly during the game.

According to Simonelli, the league has already asked the manufacturer to speed up the production of new balls of a different color. About 500 balls are needed for one round of the championship, not including those used by teams in training, so the replacement process takes time.

“We have received many valid complaints – people with color blindness simply cannot see this ball. We asked our supplier to speed up the production of new balls. We need 25 balls for each match, that is, about 500 per week, not including training balls. Production has already started, but it will take some time to completely abandon the orange version. This solution turned out to be unsuccessful, so we will go back to yellow or white,” he said. Simonelli on the Radio Anch’io Sport program on Rai Radio 1.

By the way, Malinowski got the lowest rating in the match between Genoa and Roma.