Ball (association football)

[1] Additional, more stringent standards are specified by FIFA and other big governing bodies for the balls used in the competitions they sanction.

Early footballs began as animal bladders or stomachs that would easily fall apart if kicked too much.

[citation needed] A black-and-white patterned spherical truncated icosahedron design, brought to prominence by the Adidas Telstar, has become a symbol of association football.

During medieval times balls were normally made from an outer shell of leather filled with cork shavings.

Vulcanization helped create inflatable bladders that pressurize the outer panel arrangement of the football.

Charles Goodyear's innovation increased the bounce ability of the ball and made it easier to kick.

[7][8] During the 1900s, footballs were made out of leather with a lace of the same material (known as tiento in Spanish) used to stitch the panels.

[9] Another problem of early footballs was that they deteriorated quickly, as the plastic used in manufacturing varied in thickness and in quality.

[7] The ball without the leather lace was developed and patented by Romano Polo, Antonio Tossolini and Juan Valbonesi in 1931 in Bell Ville, Córdoba Province, Argentina.

The developed model also used isotropic material properties but included an additional stiffer stitching seam region.

[6] To prevent water absorption balls may be specially coated, or the stitches bonded with glue.

It is estimated that 70% of all footballs are made in Sialkot, Pakistan with other major producers being China and India.

In early FIFA World Cups, match balls were mostly provided by the hosts from local suppliers.

Since 1970 Adidas have supplied official match balls (all of which were made in Sialkot, Pakistan) for every tournament.