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Children with an Alive & Kicking ball

Month: September 2008

Alive and Kicking

We’re very proud to announce that The Ball for 2010 will be made by Alive & Kicking in South Africa. This amazing project makes cheap, tough, repairable footballs, netballs and volleyballs, using African skills and African leather. Each carries a message about HIV/AIDS and malaria.

The current look of The Ball 2010 made by Alive and Kicking in South Africa

The Ball 2010 will be “an African ball made for the poorest African communities – the very embodiment of development through football in Africa.” says James Flecker of Alive & Kicking.

Senator Barack Obama inspecting an Alive and Kicking ball during a recent visit to Kenya
Barack Obama inspecting an Alive & Kicking ball in Kenya

Please visit Alive & Kicking’s donations page where you can donate an ball to a community that will appreciate it more than you can imagine.

Badges, stars and balls

Winners of the World Cup can now display a badge as well as stars on the national shirt.

World Cup winners badge
The ‘FIFA World Champions Badge’ on the Italian shirt

In fact, it looks like the Italian FA has incorporated the stars into their badge design — previously the stars would circle the national FA’s badge, with a new one added for each World Cup won.

Four stars on the 2002 Brazil football shirtFour stars on the 2002 Brazil football shirt

Why is this relevant to us? Well, at one point we thought that The Ball could represent the star that gets awarded at the end of the competition. That’s why the 2002 and 2006 films start with The Ball emerging from the heavens, descending to its starting point in Battersea Park like a shooting star coming down to earth. In a sense, the star on the shirt is a memory of that year’s Ball and the games played with it.

The Ball 2018 left England on 25th March 2018 and travelled to the World Cup in Russia.

The Ball 2014 kicked off from England on 9th Jan 2014 and headed to the World Cup in Brazil.

The Ball 2010 left England on 24th Jan 2010 headed to the Opening Ceremony in Johannesburg, South Africa.

The Ball 2006 travelled from London to the Opening Ceremony in Munich, Germany.

The Ball 2002 was carried 7000 miles across Europe and Asia to the World Cup finals in Korea & Japan.