Molten Corporation

Molten Corporation (株式会社モルテン, Kabushiki-gaisha Moruten) is a sports equipment and automotive parts company based in Hiroshima, Japan.

Molten Corporation
Native name
株式会社モルテン
TypePrivate KK
IndustrySports equipment
Founded1 November 1958 (1958-11-01)
Headquarters
Yokogawa Shin-machi, Nishi-ku, Hiroshima, 733-0013
,
Japan
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Kiyo Tamiaki
(President and CEO)
Products
List
Number of employees
3,900 (consolidated, as of 31 March 2015)
Websitemolten.co.jp
Footnotes / references
[1][2]

Molten is mostly known for manufacturing balls for several team sports, with a range of products that includes American footballs, association footballs, basketballs, dodgeballs, handballs and volleyballs. Notably, Molten basketballs are the official balls for all FIBA worldwide competitions,[3] and numerous domestic leagues outside of North America.

Molten is also the official volleyballs producer for USA Volleyball and the NCAA men's and women's championships.[4]

History
FIBA basketballs
UEFA Europa League match ball

Founded in 1958, Molten is the world's largest ball and sports equipment manufacturer. Molten USA, Inc. was established in 1983 to bring these quality sports balls to the U.S. marketplace. Originally located in Southern California, Molten USA moved to northern Nevada in 1988 and continues to call the Reno–Sparks area its home.

Only six years after their founding, Molten basketballs, volleyballs, and soccer balls were the official balls of the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. Molten has been the official basketball for the Olympic Games in Los Angeles (1984), Seoul (1988), Barcelona (1992), Atlanta (1996), Sydney (2000), Athens (2004), Beijing (2008), London (2012) and Rio (2016). Molten basketballs have also been the official ball for the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) for the past 30 years culminating in the Men's and Women's World Basketball Championship. This championship was held in the U.S. for the first time in Indianapolis in August 2002.

Molten volleyballs became the official ball for the U.S. national teams in 1997 and the boys' and girls' junior national teams in 2001. Presently clubs, regions, high schools, colleges and tournaments throughout the U.S. use Molten volleyballs.

Through the 2006-07 season, Molten supplied balls for the elite Europe-wide Euroleague, but the league's organizing body, Euroleague Basketball (company), switched to Nike as its basketball supplier.[5]

In their first involvement in association football, the company offered its technology to the Teamgeist project and supplied the official football as OEM to Adidas for the 2006 FIFA World Cup.[6] Since 2012, Molten have been supplying Alashkert, a soccer club from the Armenian Premier League.

AFC

Starting from 2019, Molten will supply official match ball for all Asian Football Confederation (AFC) club and national team tournaments, including the 2019 AFC Asian Cup. The Molten Acentec was specifically designed for the Asian Cup, based on Vantaggio 5000.[7]

The only exception are the AFC Champions League, as Molten will provide Adidas match balls (Molten are the official manufacturer and distributor of Adidas footballs in Japan).[8] However, since 2021 season the AFC Champions League are also using Molten-branded match balls after Molten extended a three-year deal with the confederation until 2024.

UEFA Europa and the Europa Conference League

On 23 October 2017, UEFA has announced that Molten Corporation had signed a three-year agreement to become the official match ball supplier for the UEFA Europa League -- replacing Adidas -- through seasons 2018–19, 2019–20 and 2020–21. "Molten UEFA Europa League" is the name of the official match balls of the tournament during the three-year contract. These footballs derive from the Molten Vantaggio 5000 -- a high quality FIFA and NFHS Approved match ball -- albeit with custom design.[9]

On 4 February 2021, Molten and the UEFA has reached an agreement to extend the three-year contract to become the official match ball suppliers for the UEFA Europa League and newly-created UEFA Europa Conference League.[10]

Domestic leagues

In the past decade, Molten has increased its prominence in the world of football, becoming the official supplier of match balls for various leagues and domestic competitions, as well as a technical supplier for various clubs all over the world.

Basketball national teams

Molten was the provider of uniforms to Malaysia's national basketball team at the 2021 FIBA Asia Cup qualification.[11]

References
  1. "Corporate Profile". Molten Corporation. Retrieved 10 March 2016.
  2. "Company Overview". Bloomberg Businessweek. Bloomberg L.P. Retrieved 10 March 2016.
  3. FIBA and Molten unveil basketball for WC2019 on FIBA website
  4. List of official equipment suppliers on NCAA.com, 28 Sep 2019
  5. "Euroleague Basketball Announces Partnership with Nike". Euroleague Basketball. 28 June 2007. Retrieved 2 July 2007.
  6. Camacho, Mariano Jesús (15 February 2016). "En busca de la esfera de Dios" [In search of the sphere of God]. Vavel (in Spanish). Retrieved 10 March 2016.
  7. "AFC appoints world-leading ball manufacturer Molten as official match ball supplier" (Press release). Asian Football Confederation. Retrieved 13 October 2018.
  8. "AFC unveils Official Match Balls by Molten for 2019" (Press release). Asian Football Confederation. Retrieved 4 February 2019.
  9. "Molten becomes UEFA Europa League match ball supplier" (Press release). UEFA. Retrieved 13 October 2018.
  10. "Molten to continue as UEFA Europa League match ball supplier" (Press release). UEFA. 4 February 2021. Retrieved 14 April 2021.
  11. FIBA FIBA, accessed 19 October 2021.
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