THE SELECTION OF THE OFFICIAL MATCH BALL FOR THE WORLD CUP

The choice of the football to be used in the World Cup, was a matter of great importance. In previous competitions there had been problems regarding the size and weight of the footballs. In Chile, last minute arrangements had to be made to fly in supply of footballs from other countries. This was a possibility which obviously could not be tolerated in England, and so it was decided that the choice should be made well in advance of the actual competition in order that the chosen manufacturer would have sufficient time to ensure that the footballs required (in the region of 400) could all be made to conform to the rigorous specifications demanded.

Manufacturers who wished to have their footballs considered for selection were invited to forward samples to the World Cup Organisation early in May 1965, in time for a meeting of the FIFA Bureau due to be held later that month. All the footballs submitted were required to conform to the specification laid down in Law 2 of the Laws of Football, in that they should be between 27 – 28 inches inches in circumference, and that the weight should be between 14 – 16 ounces. Convinced that there must be absolute fairness in the choice of the footballs to be used, the World Cup Organisation decided that the selection should be made by the members of the FIFA Bureau and that it should be made in presence of the Press.

A total of 111 footballs, offered by nine British and European manufacturers, came under the scrutiny of the members of the Bureau at the Olympic Restaurant, White City Stadium, London. To ensure that there was no possibility of any member of the Comittee having any prior knowledge of the footballs from which the selection was to be made, an elaborate procedure was devised by the World Cup Organisation’s Finance Officer, Mr. G. N. Symes. None of the footballs offered for selection bore any markings of any kind to indicate who the manufacturer was, nor the number of that particular football submitted, since all of them offered varying quantities. Until the final selection had been made and announced, it was impossible for anyone except the Finance Officer to have any knowledge of which manufacturer had been fortunate enough to have their football chosen.

Before the selection proceedings began, all of the footballs had been inflated to the requested pressures and they were then submitted to a series of tests to ensure that they conformed to the specifications of Law 2. A template with two circular holes had been manufactured especially for the purpose of testing the diameter of the footballs. Each football being tested had to pass through one of the holes (the larger) and fail to pass through the other (the smaller) to meet the circumference requirements. A weighing scale was also used to make certain that the weight was within the prescribed limits. The template and the scales used were both certified in advance for accuracy by the Public Control Office (Weights and Measures). The Bureau members responsible for the decision also tested the balls for bounce on a hard surface, as well as on the playing pitch at White City Stadium, a ground which was to be used to stage one of the World Cup matches.

Of the total number of footballs inspected, no fewer than 48 failed to meet the required specification for one reason or other, leaving a total of 63 from which the actual selection was made. There were only two instances in which the entire sample  of footballs submitted by an individual manufacturer met the specification completely, a point which ocassioned some suprise, given the publicity value that was certain to benefit the chosen manufacturer.

More than half of the footballs which certain manufacturers offered were rejected for one reason or another. From the 63 remaining footballs from which the final decision had to be made, eight were shortlisted for further examination. These eight balls had been provided by five different manufacturers. Two of the eight footballs did not reach the standard demanded by the final minute and precise inspection and after considerable deliberation, the choice fell to a football manufactured by Slazenger Limited, of Challenge House, Mitcham Road, Croydon, Surrey. Patterns on the footballs from which the final choice was made varied from 32, 30, 25, 24 and 18 panels. The colour choices ranged through lemon, orange, white and black and white.

Once the actual football had been chosen, orders were passed to the manufacturer that supplies should be provided in lemon, orange and white so that the referee in any given match should have the choice of color he desired, according to the conditions prevailing at the time. In all, some 400 footballs were required for use during the course of the competition. In order that the 16 competing finalist teams would have the opportunity of familiarising themselves with the type of ball with which they were going to be required to play with, supplies were made available to each national association at the time of the World Cup Draw in January, 1966. Therefore every competing country had at least six months in which its players could become accustomed to using the official tournament ball. From the moment the footballs were chosen under such exacting conditions, the same degree of accuracy was demanded for the ball of each match until the tournament had been completed.

For every game throughout the competition, a large supply of footballs were available from which the referee was able to make his own choice. To ensure that every one of them met the specification laid down, and conformed to the quality standard of the football originally chosen more than a year earlier, a representative of the manufacturer was present at each match, using test equipment to ensure uniformity in every respect for every game.

THE GAME USED BALL OF THE WORLD CUP FINAL

The ball that was used in the final and has an interesting and unique history. After the Swiss referee of the final (Gottfried Dienst) blew the match (which England won 4-2 against Germany), one of the German players (Helmut Haller, who scored the first goal of the match) approached the referee and told him that their custom is that the losing team can keep the ball, and the referee gave permission for this. When Haller was congratulated by II. Queen Elizabeth, photos from the time show that the ball is under his arm. When Haller’s son (Jürgen) turned five, he received this ball as a gift from his father and even played with it in the yard. But when the 1996 European Championship approached, Haller was forced to give the ball back, which was bought back by the English, due to the influence of the British media. The exact amount was not disclosed, but Haller donated £80,000 to charity. The ball is currently kept in the National Football Museum in Manchester next to the World Cup trophy. Before Peter Pesti photographed the ball in 2015, it was taken out of the display case in the evening for the next morning’s photo shoot, and it was even kept in an alarmed room inside the museum! You can only touch it with gloves, it is considered a real national treasure in England!