Pakistan may be far from featuring among the top football teams in the World Cup but a Pakistani sports company has maintained its status as a supplier of the official match-ball for the largest football gala.
Football’s governing body FIFA has approved a Pakistan-made Adidas ball as the official match-ball for this year’s World Cup to be played in Qatar.
International Federation of Association Football displayed the ball on its Twitter page with its name Al-Rihla, which in the Arabic language means a journey.
Adidas, one of the largest sports equipment companies in the world, has produced a ball for the major event for the 14th consecutive year.
Pakistan’s Sialkot-based Forward Sports company is manufacturing the ball. This is the third time that the brand of ‘Forward Sports’ will be used in the World Cup.
“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,” Forward Sports Managing Director Hassan Masood said.
“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 recycled material,” Hassan said.
Adidas has supplied a ball for the major event for the 14th consecutive year. Pakistan has been manufacturing of the official match ball si
However, Pakistan was not the supplier of the 2010 and 2014 World Cups. Lionel Messi of Argentina and Son Heung-min of South Korea were the promotional stars for Adidas’ official match ball.
The 2022 FIFA World Cup will kick off on November 21 in Qatar.
According to Forward Sports official Hassan Masood a total of 3,000 footballs will be used during the World Cup in Qatar while their replicas sale is targeted to be eight million.
The weight of the ball ranges from 425 to 445 grams while its size measures from 68.8 cm to 69.3 cm.
FIFA has praised the quality of the ball, saying it has been designed to back peak game speeds as it travels faster in flight than any ball in the tournament’s history.
“This is a stunning, sustainable, and high-quality official match ball from Adidas that will be enjoyed by stars performing at the top of their game on the world’s biggest stage in Qatar, as well as grassroots players everywhere,” FIFA’s Director Marketing Jean-François Pathy said.
“Al-Rihla’s worldwide journey will represent the incredible reach of the FIFA World Cup and give fans a unique opportunity to engage with the event as excitement builds ahead of the big kick-off.”
