When you think about football, you think about countries like Brazil, Argentina, Spain, England and so on.
Pakistan is not a nation you would normally associate with the beautiful game.
But you would be surprised to know that about 70% of the footballs used around the world are made in a small Pakistani city.
This city is called Sialkot. It is located in the North-Eastern region of the province of Punjab.
So how did Sialkot become a hub of soccer ball production?
According to a legend, the story goes back to the times of the British Raj in India.
The British officers in India used to love playing football.
But the shipment of footballs used to come all the way from England.
As a result, there used to be delays.
Agitated by the lack of soccer balls, a British officer asked a local worker from Sialkot to repair his torn football.
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The local artisan did such a great job at fixing the football, that the officer was thrilled to see the end product.
As a result, the Britishers ordered the artisans to make a whole batch of new footballs.
And so it happened.
The tradition was started. And over the years, it has continued and blossomed.
Slowly, Sialkot became the center of football production in the world.
In the present day, a number of giant sports companies such Adidas, Nike and Puma have their production units in Pakistan.
The cheap labour and high production quality are some of the key factors that has helped the sports industry to bloom in Pakistan.
Apart from producing footballs, Sialkot also hosts factories producing Volleyballs, Hockey sticks and Cricket bats.
It is interesting to see that a nation which ranks so low in the FIFA rankings provides the world with the very thing that they use to get ahead of them in the charts.