'Football has more power than any one of us thinks.'

Nostalgia comes in many forms, but for football collectors like Péter Pesti, it's always round (and usually has a funny design on it)

Ask any football fan when and why they fell in love with jogo bonito. To the first part of the question, the answers are various - for Romario, World Cup winner and now politician, it was love in Jacarezinho, the Rio favela. For any number of British kids, including Wayne Rooney, a sludgy bit of field, or a cul-de-sac.

But ask a fan why they love the game and the answer always has one constant; the ball. Stars move around it; Pele, Maradona, Cruyff, Beckenbauer are flickering constellations around an eternal sun. And for some, the football is the history of the game; it represents a key to a treasure trove of memories only unlocked by the look, the touch of skin on leather.

There are fabulous stories to be had in the collections of footballs. SZ-Magazin's Lars Reichardt was part of an amazing project to photograph every tournament World Cup ball. For this, the hunt is arguably better than the catch. But for others, it's more complex - and like everything linked to football, it's rooted in the most basic of feelings: a simple love for the game.

 

I caught up with Hungarian football collector Péter Pesti, who owns a replica of every football ever used in the World Cup, as well as owning and managing the premier collector's website worldcupballs.info. Like many collectors, Péter has his own personal reasons for collecting, and like many collectors has had serious setbacks in his attempts to create that feeling for others- as he details below. Péter has assisted both Hungarian national television and the New York Times in documenting the history of football and for YouTubers, the below video is a brilliant historical accompaniment. You can find out more about Péter by visiting his website or watching his very innovative YouTube videos.
 

 

Ill: What sparked your interest in collecting footballs, and World Cup balls in particular?

Peter Pesti: The first Christmas present I remember was a regular 32 panel black and white football, I kept on telling my parents for many weeks before Christmas to buy me this present, a real leather football and I was extremely happy with it. Later I started to play football and my grandpa told me many stories of the old time great Hungarian team and other great teams in the World Cup so I got addicted to it. In high school I started to collect football shirts and wore them all the time but when I graduated and attended to the university, it was no more fancy and attractive to wear football shirts so I finished it. But my love for the sport did not end and I wanted to find another hobby to represent my attention and interest. When I studied one year in Belgium, I made enough money to afford my first Adidas matchball (the recent Champions League matchball) and when I tested it, I hit the crossbar four times out of my first five trials. This made me realize how good these high end balls are and I was looking for other balls to test them. During this procedure I found out that there are many people who not only play with the balls but they rather collect them. So later I decorated my student residence with balls and I became a collector. This happened ten years ago.

 

You've mentioned the Champions League Adidas ball is your favourite to play with - what’s your favourite collectors item and why?

If I could pick only one ball that I would keep forever from my collection, it would be the Tango Napoli ball that has the signatures of all the World Cup winning German team members plus Beckenbauer from 1990. This World Cup was namely the first I have ever seen and Germany is my favourite team ever since. This is the only ball I keep in my bedroom so that I can see it all the time.

 

You had your laptop, camera and other electrical equipment stolen in 2007 in Barcelona whilst you were travelling Europe collecting images of every World Cup ball for your website. That must have been very hard for you to overcome - what inspired you to carry on with your project?

I always knew that because of financial aspects and space limitations I will never be able to keep all the balls that I buy. But I wanted to find a way to preserve the balls and keep them for myself so I created an identical design (with the turf and the black background) and I photographed over 200 balls during the past few years. To share this image gallery with other enthusiast is an external value for the common good. There is no such identically photographed image gallery on-line. This might be the reason that even the New York Times and many other media has published my photographs from all the 20 World Cup balls.

 

You’ve worked with the New York Times and Hungarian national television on the subject. Why do you feel people are interested in footballs and their historical development?

In my opinion football has more power than any one of us thinks. There is no other sport or social event that would make so many people move. And only the balls represent any particular event. The evolution of footballs is a historical look back and a technological improvement as well. If we want to appreciate and understand old time players even better, we have to look at the equipment (i.e. balls) that they had the chance to play with. So it is not only a question of design, if you take a closer look at an old ball or you smell it, you know how it feels, it takes you back into the past and make you understand time more and appreciate the old time heroes even better.

It’s often said that footballers are better in the modern age due to improved kit and technology. Do you think this is true when it comes to footballs, and why?

The game has changed a lot all over the decades. Speed is faster, the players are more powerful and have more stamina. The Hungarian National Team could easily pass the ball at the edge of the penalty area of their opponents and it was more like a chess game, they did not run too much and were not interrupted. In my opinion players are not better because of the improvement of the kit and technology, they are better because of they need to perform better since the style and nature of the game has changed. However, it is true that we could have seen more goals with recent kit and balls if they had been available 100 years ago.

 

Which type do you prefer - the old fashioned laced balls, or the newer valve panel footballs? What’s the reason for your preference?

For the eyes and to decorate the room, the old balls look much better. Recently the matchballs are produced and changed every year (in case of the Champions League twice a year) because of marketing reasons. They did not develop anything but change the design so that they can sell more. However we do not have to blame these companies because they pump a lot of money into the sport. And to play with the latest high end balls are the best, there is no question about it. The leather balls absorbed too much water and became heavy while losing their controls. This disadvantage had to be worked upon.

Which historical footballer would you most like to see playing with the newer Adidas balls?

I would gladly see Ferenc Puskas. He was accurate even with the old balls and was able to hit the crossbar from the edge of the penalty area 9 times our of 10. Let me share you a short story about him: Once he scored a goal from a free kick but the referee made him to repeat it for some reason and disallowed his goal. Puskas became angry and told the referee: "Ok, I will shoot the ball to the same place again!"

 

And he scored... What could he do now?!