GDANSK, Poland, May 21 (Reuters) – It takes artistry to win the World Cup — and to make the goals that the likes of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo will be aiming at next month.
So says Jan Zoltowski whose small family-owned Interplastic firm, based near Gdansk on Poland’s Baltic coast, is producing the aluminium goalposts and crossbars for the month-long tournament in Russia.
More than 100 employees manually manufacture or process most of more than 190 elements that go into the goal, and managing director Zoltowski says each one demands the precision of an artist.
“For most, the goal is simply two goalposts and the crossbar. For us, it’s our life,” he told Reuters.
Most of the components are made of aluminium profiles, with each pipe cut, ground, welded and drilled.
The last stage is powder painting. Steel fittings are bent, milled and galvanised. Plastic net hooks are also manufactured in-house. Only the nets come from a Spanish partner.
(Reporting by Karol Witenberg, writing by Alan Baldwin, editing by Ed Osmond)
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