Doha, 06 Dec. 2022 (QT)

By Ashraf Siddiqui

FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 has become a showpiece sporting event to remember for everyone who has already made it and will make it to Qatar, as well as the billions of football fans glued to their TVs and smart phones around the world. The mega event will leave an important legacy for soccer-loving nations around the globe. This is especially true in the case Pakistan, which has over five million of its citizens serving the Gulf states, including over 200,000 in Qatar.

It’s a common joke among the Pakistani football fans that each goal scored by any team using ‘Al Rihla’ football is a goal by Pakistan. They are proud that the official ball of World Cup Qatar 2022 ‘Al Rihla’ is made by Pakistan-based Forward Sports Company for Adidas, the supplier of football for FIFA. (A Chinese company also makes ‘Al Rihla’ for Adidas.)

Before this, Pakistan had supplied hand-stitched soccer balls for most of the FIFA World Cups from the 1990s to 2010s.

The Forward Sports Company is based in Sialkot, a Pakistani city well known in the world of sports for its world-class quality manufacturing of sports equipment, including handballs, beach balls, shin guards, goalkeeping gloves, medicine balls, cricket bats, hockey sticks, shining cricket and hockey balls, to other accessories like kits, shoes and gloves.

The country is earning around $1 billion from the export of sports goods, including $350 m to $ 500 m from footballs alone, being a major export besides textiles.

Though Pakistan’s national football team ranks 194 out of the 211 teams in the FIFA world rankings and has never qualified for the World Cup, the country’s more than 220 million people are still part of the 2022 FIFA World Cup Qatar as Forward Sports has provided FIFA with at least 300,000 units of the match ball for the event.

As Hassan Masood, Managing Director at Forward Sports mentioned in an exclusive interview with Business Recorder that the football for a World Cup is always a dream and a crown jewel for any supplier in the world. The company has been working with Adidas for almost around three decades. It has produced balls for many international events such as UEFA Champions League Final 2022, FIFA World Cup Russia 2018 (Telstar), FIFA World Cup Brazil 2014 (Brazuca), UEFA Champions League 2009 and London Olympics 2012.

About 70 percent of all footballs that are in use across the world are manufactured in Pakistan by approximately 60,000 employees. Forward Sports is producing 750,000 balls per month for global brands, including Adidas. Hassan Masood is the recipient of ‘Sitara-e-Imtiaz’, the country’s prestigious medal in recognition of his outstanding services to the country in 2019.