From a single room to the World Cup: the Pakistani entrepreneur behind every single FIFA ball

Dubai: Every goal scored at the 2026 FIFA World Cup, every last-minute winner, every penalty that changes a game, all of it will happen with a ball made in a city in northeastern Pakistan called Sialkot. And behind that ball is a civil engineer who once worked for Pakistan Railways and never imagined he would end up in football at all.

Khawaja Masood Akhtar founded Forward Sports Private Limited in Sialkot in 1991 with 20 employees and a single room. Thirty-five years later, his company produces approximately 20.5 million footballs a year and has made the official match ball for four consecutive FIFA World Cups: the Brazuca for Brazil 2014, the Telstar 18 for Russia 2018, the Al Rihla for Qatar 2022 and now the Trionda for the 2026 tournament across the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Before getting to the man, it helps to understand the city. Often referred to as the Football Factory of the World, Sialkot produces nearly 70 per cent of all footballs used globally. From training balls used in local clubs and schools to the balls contested at the biggest tournaments on earth, the city's fingerprints are on the sport in a way that almost nobody talks about.

Sialkot's football-making tradition dates back more than a century, beginning as a local craft of repairing footballs before evolving into a major export industry. Today, Pakistan exports around 40 million footballs annually. Around 300,000 balls leave the city's factories every single day.

Swiss photographer Stefan Bohrer, who recently documented the city's football industry, was struck by what he found. "The sheer scale of football production in Sialkot is astonishing," he told Talk to the Press. "Knowing that around 300,000 balls leave these factories every day makes you pause and wonder where they all end up. These balls will be kicked, shared, and celebrated by millions of people around the world, carrying with them the passion of the game and the craftsmanship of the people who make them."

Since 1982, official FIFA World Cup match balls have been produced in Sialkot, a fact that has gone largely unnoticed outside the industry for four decades.

Akhtar's path to football manufacturing was anything but straightforward. After graduating as a civil engineer he took a job with Pakistan Railways. His uncle ran a sports goods business in Sialkot and encouraged him to give the industry a try. He was not immediately convinced.

"I never imagined I would end up manufacturing footballs," he told Muslim Network TV. "I had no experience in the industry, but I had a technical mindset and a close relationship with my uncle, so I accepted the challenge."

He started as a production manager, eventually becoming production director at a family company before striking out on his own. The early years were difficult. Production stood at roughly 1,000 balls a month and the company struggled to find its footing in an industry dominated by established players.

Everything changed in 1994 when Adidas came knocking.

"A major breakthrough came when Adidas partnered with us," he said. "From that point onward, I never looked back. There were setbacks, failures and difficult periods, but with hard work and perseverance we continued moving forward."

What has kept Forward Sports at the top of the industry for three decades is its willingness to reinvent itself. The company started with traditional hand-stitched footballs before transitioning to thermo-bonded technology in 2007, then machine-stitching, laminated football technology and eventually the sensor-equipped Trionda for 2026.

Creating a World Cup ball is a highly specialised process. Development can take three to four years, with strict testing to meet FIFA standards covering seam precision, roundness, durability and performance in different weather conditions. Some balls undergo repeated impact testing, being fired against walls hundreds of times to ensure consistency.

Delivery times that once stretched to 90 days have been reduced to as little as 15 through investment in automation, laser-cutting systems and advanced machinery. "Technology changes everything," Akhtar said. "Football manufacturing was changing too. If we had not adapted, we would have been left behind."

He visits the research and development department every morning when he arrives at the factory. "One of the biggest reasons we reached this level is our investment in R&D," he said.

A significant portion of Forward Sports' workforce is women, whose contributions Akhtar credits as central to the company's success. The company introduced transportation services, healthcare support and workplace improvements specifically to encourage female participation. Much of the work still relies on skilled craftsmanship, with workers hand-stitching football panels, applying colours and logos and inspecting finished products before they are shipped worldwide.

"Women have played a major role in our success," Akhtar said. "When given opportunities and respect, they deliver outstanding results."

There is a certain beautiful irony to all of this. Pakistan sits 198th in the FIFA world rankings and its national team has never come close to qualifying for a World Cup. And yet, every four years, the country that cannot get to the tournament makes the ball that defines it.

When a header in extra time sends a nation into delirium, when a goalkeeper dives the wrong way in a penalty shootout, when a free kick bends into the top corner in the final: the ball at the centre of that moment was made in Sialkot, by a company started by a civil engineer with 20 employees and no experience in football whatsoever.

"There is no secret formula behind success," Akhtar said. "Anything is possible when there is will. Where there is a will, there is a way."