They’re at it again in Europe: trendily coifed, tatted-up athletes are attacking one another at the European Football Championships. Well before the days of paycheque mercenaries and magic sponges, top leagues and international tournaments had already dumped the leather ball, an object once so rough and with such coarse stitching that it ripped skin from the palms of barehanded goalkeepers. Ah, the good ol’ days.

Today’s ball is a high-tech plastic wonder from the secret laboratories of sports giants Adidas, Puma, Nike, and the like. Corporations invest millions to optimise both materials and aerodynamics so players can move the sphere from foot (or head) to goal. Heaps of engineers ponder the consistency of the shell – currently polyester – and the rubber bladder inside. The surface is structured so the ball can be kicked as precisely as possible and travel flutter-free. Gone are the seams; sections are now thermally bonded.

In short: Today’s top footballs have what it takes to serve as shining symbols of the plastics industry, a sector whose image has been taking its own kicking as of late…