Yes, just like hit TV show Game of Thrones, “Winter Is Coming” for the Premier League. But in this case it’s not hordes of the undead, it’s a new hi-vis ball so that players and fans can see it on the pitch just in case it snows.
The first time a winter ball was introduced in England’s top tier was back in 2004-05, which we can only assume was a particularly chilly winter, and it coincided with the official timezone switch from British Summer Time (BST) to Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) every late-October.
Then from 2008-09 onwards, the marketing gurus figured that they should probably look to update the ball once a year. And here we are.
So all that means this 2025-26 version is the 20th offering of winter ball, coming as it does in PUMA’s first season as the official ball supplier for the Premier League.
Winter is coming. 🥶
Introducing the @pumafootball Under The Lights edition of the Premier League Ball!
— Premier League (@premierleague) October 23, 2025
The “Under the Lights” edition of the PUMA Orbita Ultimate PL will debut on Nov. 8 when Tottenham Hotspur host Manchester United, and as you can see, we’ve been promised “a striking, high-visibility colorway … engineered to shine brightest under stadium floodlights — ensuring every pass, strike, and goal is impossible to miss.” Handy for VAR, then.
This season’s Premier League has seen 209 goals already across 80 matches played, with 11 won by stoppage-time goals — the highest share in history.
We can only assume that having a shiny new ball will help goalkeepers trim this down a bit for the rest of the campaign.
