NIKE We first learned about the shadowy world of children stitching soccer balls when a picture of a 12-year-old Pakistani boy hand-sewing one for Nike surfaced in Life Magazine in 1996.

The image of the "soccer ball" that most people envision is supposed to be a white × black design made of a combination of pentagons and hexagons. In fact, we are talking about unknown reasons ...

Mohsin Raza/Reuters Most of the world's soccer balls are produced in the Sialkot region of Pakistan. This manufacturer, Bola Gema Pakistan, produces 160,000 balls every month.