History of the Select brand
What is the story of Select? This brand is one of the world's leading manufacturers of hand-stitched balls. The innovative, Danish company with a long and exciting history produces around three million balls per year and is represented in large parts of the world and exports to more than 50 countries worldwide. The Select brand was founded in 1947 by Eigil Nielsen, the goalkeeper of the Danish national football team. He took part in 28 national matches between 1940-1951 and won bronze with Denmark at the 1948 London Olympics.
In Eigil Nielsen's time, top players didn't make a living from sports alone, so he decided to train as a sports psychologist while also working in the shoe and leather industries. So he created the first Select soccer ball. In 1951, Eigil Nielsen entered into an agreement with the Danish Football Association to supply footballs for the matches of the national football team. For the first time ever, a soccer ball had no outer cord. This meant that the ball retained its round shape much better and the string was not a problem when kicking or heading. This improvement was a radical new invention in the field of football. At that time, all footballs were made of eight parts of cowhide, which most closely resembled a brown leather orange. Later, 18 oblong stripes were used before Select in 1962 introduced one of the greatest inventions in football history - the 32-piece ball.
In the early 1970s, Eigil Nielsen was again a pioneer when he and Select introduced a handball with 32 holes. In 1974, Select abandoned cowhide and produced the first hand-stitched synthetic leather ball. This material quickly became a popular material to replace genuine leather. Today, virtually all balls are made of synthetic leather, regardless of brand. Footballs based on Eigil Nielsen's 32-section principle are still used in various football and handball tournaments today - just as all balls produced in the world today are based on his innovation. In addition to balls, today the company's range includes literally everything in equipment especially for football , futsal and handball, including sports supports, sports care, goalkeeper gloves, boots and shoes, training equipment and clothing.
