SIALKOT: Forward Sports, one of the world’s largest manufacturer of footballs and a key supplier to global brands, is planning to start operations in Saudi Arabia through a joint venture this year, its chief executive officer (CEO) told Arab News last week.

Headquartered in the northeastern city of Sialkot, the Pakistani sports equipment company has been working with global sports brand Adidas for two decades and was one of the two manufacturers of Adidas’ Al Rihla, the official 2022 World Cup ball.

Forward Sports produces 15 million footballs each year which are exported worldwide and recently replaced a Chinese competitor as Adidas’s largest football supplier, according to Forward Sports CEO Khawaja Masood Akhtar.

In an exclusive interview with Arab News, Akhtar said his company is in early stages of its expansion to Saudi Arabia, where it plans to start with a “minimum headcount” from Pakistan.

“We are going to have a JV (joint venture) with one of the most influential persons in Riyadh in sports goods,” Akhtar said, without disclosing the name of the Saudi partner.

“We want to start, I can say, within this year, and we are just on the beginning stage, and the first stage will be only marketing.”

Akhtar’s statement follows a meeting between Forward Sports’ representatives and Saudi officials during the Future Investment Initiative (FII) summit in Riyadh in Oct. last year. This month, Forward Sports officials also met with the ambassador of Saudi Arabia to Pakistan, Nawaf bin Said Al-Malki, in Islamabad to discuss the company’s operations in the Kingdom.

Pakistan and Saudi Arabia share a long-standing strategic partnership in political, security and economic domains, underpinned by deep religious and cultural ties. Both countries have moved closer to broaden their cooperation in recent months, signing a landmark defense pact in Sept. and agreeing to launch an economic cooperation framework a month later to strengthen bilateral trade and investment relations.

’BEST TIME’ FOR JOINT VENTURES

Akhtar called it the “best time” for cross-border partnerships between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, adding that his company intends to understand the Saudi market before starting manufacturing operations in the Kingdom.

“Investment is not so much important,” he said, when asked about how much amount his company would be spending on its expansion to Saudi Arabia.

“At the moment, we don’t know how much we are going to put and how much they are going to put. We are just at a very beginning level.”

In the initial phase, he said, Forward Sports plans to operate with a small team, relying largely on the existing infrastructure of its Saudi partner.

“We will want to keep very minimum headcounts there from Pakistan in the beginning, maybe two or three people,” Akhtar said. “We want to hire [people] from Saudi Arabia.”

He said his company’s manufacturing operations in Saudi Arabia would be structured to comply with localization laws, with the bulk of production remaining in Pakistan.

“Either we will do 80:20 or 70:30, means 80 percent or 70 percent job is done in Pakistan. This depends on the article, which article we are going to produce there,” Akhtar told Arab News.

“So only 30 percent or 20 percent will be done in Saudi Arabia. This is a law to put ‘Made-in-KSA [on the balls]... so we have to respect that percentage.”

EXPANSION WON’T HURT PAKISTAN’S EXPORTS

Therefore, manufacturing, finishing, packaging and logistics of Forward Sports would largely remain in Pakistan, according to its CEO. The company’s expansion will not replace Pakistan’s exports or undermine domestic jobs.

“I don’t think so it will be replacing anything from Pakistan,” he said. “It would not hurt (Pakistani exports).”

Commercial opportunities in Saudi Arabia’s sports sector are expected to grow significantly before the Kingdom hosts the 2034 FIFA World Cup.

Akhtar said the move to expand their operations to the Kingdom is aimed at creating new demand, but they have not yet made a decision on whether to make footballs for future FIFA World Cups in Saudi Arabia.

“This, this is again, we don’t know,” he said. “We have to sit with a brand. If they agree, then we can be producing some balls also in Saudi Arabia.”

CAPACITY NOT A CONSTRAINT

Akhtar said Forward Sports already has the ability to scale up production if the demand rises.

“For us to make high volume is no problem. We touched like 75,000 balls per day,” he said, adding that current production has eased to 50,000 balls per day following the recent FIFA World Cup cycle.

Despite the Saudi expansion, Akhtar said his company’s headquarters would stay in Pakistan, reassuring Pakistani workers and stakeholders that they would not lose anything.

“Don’t think we are going to lose anything in Pakistan,” he said. “We will remain here, and we will be increasing our capacities in Pakistan.”