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Brazuca Official match ball - World cup ball 2014 Brazuca - Brazuca world cup ball 2014 |
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Brazuca Official match ball - World cup ball 2014 Brazuca - Brazuca world cup ball 2014 |
Pakistan may be known as a
cricketing nation but not many know that the soccer balls for the upcoming FIFA
World Cup in Brazil
will be imported from the 159th-ranked football nation.
When World Cup’s Chinese supplier
Adidas failed to keep up with the demand of soccer balls in Rio
de Janeiro, a report in ‘Express
Tribune’ said that a Sialkot ball
manufacturing company then stepped in and got the contract.
Factory owner Khwaja Akhtar, who has
made balls for the German Bundesliga, French league and the Champions League,
is excited with the challenge of being a part of World Cup soccer history.
“It was when I felt the roar of the
crowd at the 2006 World Cup that I dreamt of a goal of my own: to manufacture
the ball for the biggest football tournament on the planet,” Akhtar said.
“The people were chanting all around
me. I just thought, this is the real thing. I was part of the crowd. I never
had that kind of feeling before,” added Akhtar.
Sialkot, a town in eastern Pakistan, was once the unassailable soccer ball
production capital of the world -- exporting about 30 million balls a year, an
estimated 40 percent of global production -- but India
and China
have recently caught up.
In December 2013, Brazil unveiled
the latest soccer ball for the 2014 edition -- the Brazuca -- on the official
FIFA World Cup website.
The Brazuca features a striking new
design and new panel system. Six identical interlocking panels make up the
ball’s synthetic surface, thermally bonded to keep out moisture.
The month-long tournament, which
kickstarts on June 12, has 32 of the worlds best sides locking horns in the
most watched event in sports.
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