Adil Najam
Unlike the 2006 FIFA World Cup, when Pakistan was represented in each and every game of the world’s premier sporting tournament – in the shape of Pakistani manufactured footballs – Pakistan will be missing in action at the 2010 FIFA Football World Cup that starts in South Africa later this week. This year’s official match football for the World Cup – Jabulani or Jo’bulani (manufactured by Adidas and meaning ‘to celebrate’ in Zulu – will come from China, not Pakistan.
Pakistani footballs, of course, have a long history of being kicked around in Football World Cup tournaments. From the iconic Telstar (which was the first designated official game ball, at the 1970 Mexico World Cup and then at the 1974 World Cup in Germany) to the even more iconic Tango (the official ball of the 1978 and 1982 World Cups in Argentina and Spain), and even at the last World Cup in 2006 in Germany, hand-stitched, high-performance from Pakistan – really from Sialkot – have been the preferred choice for Adidas, the official providers of match balls to the FIFA World Cups.
No longer so, it seems. Indeed, from once commanding as much as 85% of the world’s market in footballs, Pakistani manufacturers now believe that they will supply no more than 30-40 percent of the footballs sold around this mega-event. Pakistan, of course, is not a football power at all – ranked 165th out of 202 countries in the world. But like everywhere else, football fever can get high in Pakistan too (here and here). This year, however, we would no longer be kicked around on the FIFA World Cup soccer fields.
