A city in Pakistan has become the unlikely centre of the global football industry, producing an estimated 70 per cent of the world’s footballs, including the official match ball used at the FIFA World Cup.
Sialkot, in Pakistan’s Punjab province, has built a reputation as one of the world’s leading sports manufacturing hubs, with millions of footballs produced and exported from the city every year.
The city’s connection to football manufacturing dates back more than a century, when local residents began repairing footballs as a hobby. What started as a small craft eventually developed into a major industry employing thousands of people.
Today, around 40 million footballs are exported from Pakistan each year, with Sialkot responsible for a significant share of the production, as reported by New York Post.
Home of the World Cup ball
