Sports Balls

Today, modern soccer is the world’s most popular sport. It's a pick-up game played by countless children on all continents, and a professional sport viewed by hundreds of millions of dedicated fans.

While many different types of sports balls are now available in Canada (volleyballs, basket balls, footballs, and rugby balls), the Fair Trade soccer ball was the first to arrive.

For the past 3,000 years, variations of the ball-kicking game have been found across the globe in parts of Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Americas. Despite being banned in the Middle Ages, England introduced the first standardized rules for soccer in 1848. 

About 75% of soccer balls are produced in Pakistan, mostly in the Sialkot region in the north. There are about 40,000 people in this region working in soccer ball production. The next biggest producers are India, China and Indonesia. Other stitched sports balls, including volleyballs and rugby balls, are also produced in these locations.

Unfair rules of the game

Most sports balls are carefully sewn by hand. Workers stitch balls both in factories as part of a production line and in their own homes. They receive ball pieces, ready for stitching, from manufacturers.

Sports ball stitchers are often paid based on the quantity of pieces sewn, rather than an hourly wage. As a result, they work long hours and rarely receive the legal minimum wage. In India, the average wage for people stitching balls is 20 rupees, a third of the minimum wage of 63 rupees.

In many cases, children must also work to increase the income of their families. A 1996 study by the International Labour Organization (ILO) estimated that there were more than 7000 children aged five to 14 working full time up to 11 hours a day stitching balls in the Sialkot region alone. This figure does not include the children working part-time or those working in other regions.

Women comprise a large percentage of the labour input of sports balls. They often do not have a voice and frequently face discrimination.

Score with Fair Trade

Fair Trade guarantees a fair wage and good working conditions, as well as a premium to invest in social and economic initiatives for their communities. Among other things, Fair Trade standards for sport balls production ensure the following:

• Fair Trade standards for hired labor require that workers earn at least the national minimum wage.
• Fair Trade standards require that producers do not use child labor.
• Producers must have a Joint Body comprising of management, factory worker and stitcher representatives. The Joint Body consults with those they represent and decides upon the best use of the Fair Trade premium money.
• Fair Trade standards ensure that there is no discrimination against women, and that facilities pertinent to women are provided by employers.

How many stitches in a soccer ball?

Soccer balls are created with a carefully-stitched pentagon-hexagon pattern. A standard size 5 FIFA (International Federation of Football Associations) soccer ball is hand-sewn using 690 stitches.