While millions of football lovers are enthusiastic to support their favorite teams in FIFA World Cup 2018, the Pakistanis who are renowned as the cricket lover nation and ranked as the 198th football nation will have a special reason to rejoice. The ample reason in the mega event is ”Pakistan-made football”, that is going to be used in the world cup matches and as for the Pakistani nation it is a moment of Pride.
“Although Pakistan football team will not be participating in the forthcoming World Cup, its presence will be felt in all the matches [because of the balls].”
This news was confirmed by the Russian Ambassador to Pakistan earlier in February 2018 that Russia will use Pakistani made Footballs in the FIFA World Cup 2018.
Manufacturing of Footballs:
Pakistan’s city Sialkot is recognized across the globe for producing the finest quality of sports goods. An innovative sports company “Forward Group” is located in Sialkot. The company has prepared the most awaited and ultimately demanding football for FIFA World cup 2018 who are the contracting manufacturer of global sports brand; Adidas. Forward Sports who forged footballs for the German Bundesliga, France Ligue 1 and the Champions League, used to be the official football provider of 2014 World Cup in Brazil as well.
Nonetheless, it was the biggest challenge for the Forward Sports to synthesize footballs because the company usually make handmade footballs. The manufacturing of machine-made balls was a strenuous task for the company, but with hard work and dedication, they managed to produce the iconic football for the FIFA Cup.
Khawaja Masood, the chairman of the company Forward Group said that “This is an honor for us, that we are going to provide footballs for the world cup once again. We are very excited to meet this challenge,”
He further said that the Company produced 700,000 famous thermo-bonded footballs. This is the latest technology used by the Adidas and transferred it to the Forward Sports. In this technology, the Thermo-bonded balls are assembled by sticking panels by heat.
Russian Ambassador to Pakistan Alexey Dedov said that “Pakistan is one of the most renowned countries in the world in the manufacture of sports equipment,”
Unfortunately, in last few years Pakistan has confronted the loss in this industry due to the huge football production was moved from Pakistan to China due to quality issues but Pakistan managed to provide high-quality footballs that are the main reason Pakistan got this contract once again.
About TELSTAR 2018:
This advanced technology ball had a Near field communication (NFC) microchip technology that allowed the speed and trajectory of the ball to be tracked and analyzed.
Adidas Telstar design is a nod to the iconic 1970 and 1974 World cup balls and around 600 players in 12 countries tested it. The pixels design reflects the digital world we are living in. Six panels are adjusted in with longer edges for better flight stability.
FIFA World Cup 2018 Teams:
Reactions From Pakistani Fans:
The Pakistani nation is not behind in expressing their feelings about this proud moment. Take a look at the famous tweets regarding the moment:
We are gratified to Russia and the organizers of the FIFA World Cup 2018 for giving this opportunity to Pakistan to machine these footballs that would consequent the proud moment for the Pakistani nation. Our sincere wishes are with all teams playing in the world cup.
