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Even though Pakistan’s football team will not be a part of the 2022 FIFA World Cup Finals in Doha this winter, Pakistan will be represented – thanks to our expert craftsmen and their talent for making premium footballs. After the recent treat for football fans in the shape of the FIFA trophy tour in Pakistan, Pakistanis can now look forward to seeing the special ‘made in Pakistan’ balls on the fields. The mega event that has been planned for the winter to avoid the harsh Qatar heat, will have footballs supplied from Pakistan and China. The environment-friendly ball that is being made especially for the 2022 FIFA World Cup is called “Al-Rihla” which is translated to “the journey”.
Forward Sports, a contracting manufacturer of global sports brand Adidas, has been chosen to manufacture the official match ball for the FIFA World Cup for the third time. Previously, the company manufactured footballs for the German Bundesliga, the French league, the Champions League, and the 2014 and 2018 World Cups in Brazil and Russia respectively.
“We have once again been chosen to supply footballs for the World Cup, which is an honour for us and a testimony of the quality we have maintained,” said Khawaja Masood Akhtar, the chairman of Forward Sports. He went on to discuss how the manufacturing of footballs has been revamped since 2013 – and that the footballs being manufactured now are ‘thermo-bonded’. This essentially means that the panels are attached through heat and there are no stitches.
“We have made some changes in (the design of) footballs this time, keeping Qatar’s culture, environment, architecture, and flag in mind – and it will be environment-friendly,” said Akhtar. He also discussed how for the very first time, only water-based inks and glues have been used in the making of the footballs.
Hassan Masood, Managing Director Forward Sports stated, “This is the third time that our product will be used in the World Cup. Before this we had made footballs for the 2014 and 2018 World Cups also. This brand, which will be used in Qatar World Cup, is too much responsive and is faster. The 25 percent elements, which have been used in this brand, are sustainable and this brand is made of re-cycled material”.
Sialkot, which is famous for a plethora of quality goods such as footballs, cricket bats, sports kits, shoes, gloves, and medical equipment, is a heavy source of exports for Pakistan. The country earns around one million dollars from sports goods exports – which includes a whopping 350-500 million dollars just from footballs.
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