Balls at the FIFA 1950-1962: a life-saving valve and a Chilean oddity

Twelve years had not gathered the best players on the planet to determine the world champion, and then finally in 1950 the World Cup was held in Brazil. During this time a lot has changed, including ball technology.

At this tournament local balls firm Belle Ventile were used, which were called "Super Duplo T". The basic composition of the ball remained the same - it was sewn from twelve leather panels, but they do not join together at a right angle, and at an obtuse angle, were curved at the junction. This allowed to reduce the load on the seams, to make the ball stronger and more resistant to deformation

A very important innovation was to get rid of the lacing - a valve was used instead. This not only made the ball more spherical, but also saved the players the agony: now they did not have to wait for abrasions and bruises if the ball fell with the lacing down.

In the final group of the World Cup 50 decisive, as if to order, was the last match in which the team of Uruguay won a strong victory over Brazil - 2-1 and won the gold. After the game, Uruguayan midfielder Schubert Gambetta took the lucky ball with him, and it was kept at his home for a long time, and in 2010 the National Football Museum bought it from the midfielder's family.

In 1954, FIFA began to control the mass, diameter and size of balls. The soccer world was gradually moving toward unification. At the World Cup in Switzerland, the local ball used was the "Swiss World Champion", made by the Basel company Coste Sport. Its distinguishing feature was not only its yellow color, but also the fact that it consisted of eighteen panels, which means that its shape was closer to the ideal than that of its predecessors..

There were 102 entries to become the official ball of 1958. They were chosen - blindly, without knowing the manufacturer - by FIFA representatives, including the Soviet delegate Valentin Granatkin. The World Cup was the first one in which the USSR national team competed, and it was to be played with the Swedish Top Star ball. The balls were made of 24 panels in three colors - brown, white and orange. By the way, the first goal of the Soviet national team at the World Cup was scored by Nikita Simonyan in the first game with England. Then Soviet players reached the quarterfinals.

One might assume that with each tournament, the quality of goals at the world championships got higher and higher. But this is not the case. An example of this is the '62 World Cup, which was held in Chile. The supplier was local entrepreneur Custodio Zamora: he introduced the 18-panel Crack Top Star ball. However, the orange color was almost the only attractive feature of this ball. Already at halftime of the opening match between Chile and Switzerland, the English head referee Kenneth Aston asked to replace the ball with a European one. However, the players also complained about its quality: "Crack", apparently, was made from substandard material - in the rain it got damp, became heavy and lost its color. Therefore, they often used European balls in matches and training sessions, including those from the last World Cup in Sweden.