Deconstructing World Cup soccer balls

The 2014 FIFA World Cup is scheduled to take place in Brazil this summer. But what most people don't know is that millions of World Cup gift soccer balls are being made in east China's Jiangxi Province.

The Heima Sports Supplies Company in Jiangxi's capital of Nanchang is responsible for producing the balls. After getting production orders from official World Cup sponsors, the company was authorized by the event's organizing committee as a formal supplier of souvenir and gift soccer balls for the upcoming 2014 World Cup.

The company started to design and produce the World Cup balls, which will be exported to Europe, United States and South America, in September last year.

The company has already made and exported over three million balls. It is estimated that another four to six million balls will be exported between January and June this year.

Many soccer fans desire premium soccer balls, as a good ball can make a backyard feel like a stadium. Therefore, in order to ensure quality, the company takes the production process seriously from start to finish.

The process starts with selecting leather.

"The leather we use is environmentally friendly, non-toxic and easy to recycle," said Zhang Bo, a general manager's assistant at the company.

With a specialized cutting machine, workers cut the leather into 32 panels, finely stitch them together and send them to the printing room.

Here, rows of desks are covered with screen frames. On the assembly line, workers attach the leather to the frames, while others use ink and screen boards to print different patterns on the leather.

The balls feature a variety of images, from the World Cup trophy to the event's mascot, the three-banded armadillo Fuleco.

The workers said the type of image and color that is used decides how many times ink is added. Every different color or image requires a new layer of ink. After one layer dries, another layer can be added.

One of the sponsors' biggest demands is that the images cannot come off after just a few kicks on a grassy lawn.

"A curing agent is added to the ink to make the pictures more durable. The ink is not only environmentally friendly, but also abrasion-proof," Zhang said.

The printed panels are then sent to the sewing room. It takes less than a minute to turn the leather fragments into a semi-finished ball.

Next, a bladder must be put inside the ball. Zhang said two kinds of materials are typically used for bladders-polyvinyl chloride and butyl. The latter is preferred by the company since butyl bladders have high tensile strength.

The last step is to inflate the balls. In the packing room, an air tube is connected to a compressor that helps control the air pressure and ensure that the balls are properly inflated.

However, the process is far from over. The final products must go through a tough inspection.

"The sponsors will come to check the quality of the balls. During tests, World Cup balls should be able to endure more than 2,000 kicks with no burst seams," Zhang said.

The company produces over 30,000 of the balls every day.