16 June 2006 – A bit after 6 o’clock this morning the golden ball with an estimated value of 75,000 Euro dropped out of the ice. The melting process lasted exactly 663.546 seconds. Meanwhile more then 40.000 persons have placed their bets via www.goldenfootball.net on the exact second that it will take for the ball to drop out of the melting ice cube.
The remarkable World Championship action started in Berlin on June 8th. Online betting company Unibet.com made a 14 carat golden ball and packed it up in a gigantic ice cube of 22.000 kilo. It took the ball 7 days, 16 hours, 19 minutes and 6 seconds to drop out of the ice. Ruud Verdellen, Marketing Manager of Unibet in the Benelux: “We can look back at a successful action with 41.239 participants placing a bet. Per day also more then 20.000 unique visitors followed the melting process via de webcams. Meanwhile we have tried to contact the new owner of the golden ball, but we have not succeeded yet. He lives in Holland.” Breath Foundation For every bet, Unibet will donate 0,05 Euro to the international Breath Foundation. This foundation supports very ill children in poor Eastern European regions and helps them to give some extra ‘breath’ by all sorts of sports programmes. Before the ball arrived in Berlin, it made a promotional tour through Europe. During this tour various famous football players, such as Gullit, Romario, Mijatovic and Ravelli, signed the ball to show their support to the Breath foundation. Facts & Figures • The golden ball is hand made and a 100 % copy of a normal ball, size 5. • The ball is made of 2,5 kilo of 14 carat gold. • The ice cube is 3x3x3 meters and weights 22.000 kilo. • The ball is packed into the ice by means of big plates that are carefully positioned around the ball. • For safety reasons and to prevent the ball to be damaged, a copy is packed into the ice. The winner wins the original golden ball.