1. Most footballs are hand made.

2. A football is made out of 32 patches that are sewn together.

3. One ball needs 650 stitches.

4. Nearly all hand-made balls come from one place in the world: Sialkot in Punjab, Pakistan.

5. 30 million women and girls around the world play football.

6. Around 40 million balls are made in Pakistan each year. That’s enough to fill nearly 220 football pitches!

7. Around 42,000 people make balls in Sialkot, Pakistan (some football stadiums don’t even have room for that many people!). Fair Trade footballs also come from Pakistan. Half of the people who make the balls are women and girls.

8. It takes a grown-up about three hours to make one ball, so a grown- up can make an average of 3 or 4 balls a day, if she or he works for nine hours.

9. A grown up gets paid between 30 cents and 41 cents per ball. So they earn around 65p – 90p a day. Star football players like Ronaldo and Beckham earn around £55,000 a day playing football.

10. The people who make footballs are paid per ball. This means there is no limit to how many balls they make each day. If the person sewing the football needs more money, then she works longer and longer.

11. In the past, a lot of footballs were sewn at home. The grown-ups don’t get paid enough money per ball – they don’t get a fair wage. This means that whole family joins in and sews balls so that the family can earn more money to buy the things they need.

Do you know any more interesting football facts?

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