When FIFA World Cup’s Chinese supplier Adidas failed to keep up with the demand of footballs in Rio de Janeiro, Sialkot ball manufacturing company Forward Sports stepped in and got the contract. They had only 33 days to make it happen but they managed it and now Pakistan will be represented at the World Cup by the ‘Brazuca’.

“It was a matter of honour for us, we wanted to do it,” Forward Sports’ head of new product development Hassan Masood Khawaja said. The ‘Brazuca’ was tested by more than 600 of the world’s top players, and 30 teams in 10 countries over two and a half years. Among the players involved in the testing process were Lionel Messi, Iker Casillas, Bastian Schweinsteiger, and 1998 World Cup winner Zinedine Zidane.

Published in Dawn, June 8th, 2014