Before the start of the FIFA World Cup in Brazil on Thursday, the Brazilian ambassador to Pakistan, Alfredo Leoni, made a trip to Sialkot to see for himself where the ‘Brazuca’ balls have been made. ‘Brazuca’ is a friendly slang word for Brazilian.
A total of 42 million balls have been exported from Pakistan in the months leading up to the world cup. Some of them will be used in the world cup and the rest at training sessions and games that are played every day in cities, towns and neighbourhoods all over the world.
“It is a great business to be in,” says a representative of the company that prepared the balls. “Now we just cross our fingers and hope nobody will blame the balls if they lose a match.
Well, it is perhaps inevitable that somebody will do that, but we are confident that our products are of high quality. We have invested a lot in the recent decade to upgrade our machinery. Earlier, all balls were handmade but that is no longer the case,” he says. The small and medium scale industries in Sialkot earn Pakistan 1.6 billion dollars in foreign exchange annually.
“When the dust settles on the stadiums in Rio, Sao Paulo and the 10 other cities in Brazil at the end of July, the same Adidas balls that were used there will also be made available in the Pakistani markets. No, the balls aren’t cheap but they are special!” he adds.
“It is a matter of great pride that the football balls for the 2014 FIFA World Cup have been made in Pakistan. This fact shows how much the enormous potential of Pakistani businessmen can achieve.
“It also establishes an obvious link between Pakistan and Brazil since the games will be in my home country,” Ambassador Alfredo Leoni said at a recent event, appreciating the fusion of sports, business and diplomacy.
Published in Dawn, June 15th, 2014
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