A look behind the Adidas Brazuca

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was suprized to see that Talon Sports, the first factory in Pakistan to make Fairtrade Footballs with Fair Corp Founder, Jamie Lloyd, have received a 6 million Addidas  contrat for this year's World Cup ball the Adidas Brazuca:

 

I am not sure what this means with regards to production meeting Fairtrade Standardards, but it looks like a positive step and I will let you know if and when I find out more about this.

 

For now...

 

Watch the news clip via this link and see a copy of the article below...

 

http://english.cntv.cn/2014/06/07/VIDE1402124280450170.shtml

I quote:

"World Cup ball: Pakistan launches the "Brazuca"

Reporter: Danial Khan 丨 CCTV.com

06-07-2014 14:59 BJT

World Cup 2014

" Even though Pakistan has never played in a football world cup, no other team would have had the chance to play it, if Pakistan did not produce the ball! So when Brazil and Croatia kick off the tournament in Sao Paolo on June 12th, they’ll be using a ball made in Pakistan, called the "Brazuca". 

About 70 percent of the world’s hand-sewn footballs are made in Pakistan. In the 1980s, Sialkot gained international celebrity status when it produced the Tango ball used in the 1982 FIFA World Cup. Today Sialkot’s hand-stitched balls face competition from the machine-made balls produced in China. But despite tough competition, the manufacturers have managed to bring back the world cup football production to Pakistan.

While one factory has received the order of producing the ball to be played in the world cup, others have received much bigger orders to manufacture world cup promotional balls. Talon sports, a Sialkot sports goods factory have received an order to produce six million balls.

But with big orders comes bigger responsibility. Workers at talon sports are putting their hearts and minds - day in and day out - to meet the target.

Chaudhry saleem, chairman of talon sports gives all credit to the brazilian football legend, Pele, winner of three World Cups, in 1958, 1962 and 1970.

The workers seem quite satisfied with the big order, for now, they don’t have to worry about making their ends meet.

Despite witnessing financial crisis in the past, the football industry in Sialkot is going strong. Over Forty million foot balls, worth about $210 million are produced in Sialkot every year.

Sialkot is known as one of the leading sports goods industries in the world. This factory can produce over 30,000 footballs in a single day. The manufacturers say that with the help of international sporting brands they can be able to achieve bigger targets."

 

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Sounds like good news to me... Let's hope the production standards are as good as it seems and maybe this is a step in the right direction?!

 

I'll let you know if I find out more, that's it for now, Sharron :)

 

Check out the videos section to see more about the origins of Fairtrade football production at Talon and Fair Corp.