Molten Corporation

Molten Corporation
Native name
 株式会社モルテン
Private KK
Industry Sports equipment
Founded November 1, 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
Number of employees
 3,900 (consolidated, as of March 31, 2015)
Website Official website
Footnotes / references
[1][2]
Official FIBA basketballs by Molten

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.

Their footballs, basketballs, volleyballs and handballs are often used for official matches, games and competitions. Notably, Molten basketballs are the official balls for all FIBA worldwide competitions, and numerous domestic leagues outside of North America. Through the 2006-07 season, it supplied balls for the elite Europe-wide Euroleague, but the league's organizing body, Euroleague Basketball (company), switched to Nike as its basketball supplier.[3] Molten is also the official volleyball producer for USA Volleyball and the NCAA Championships. Since 2012 the company approuced even in the European football for supply Alashkert in the Armenian Premier League, their first official step in football.

They offered their technology to the Teamgeist project and supplied the official football as OEM to Adidas for the 2006 FIFA World Cup.[4]

History

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) and London (2012). Molten basketballs have also been the official ball for the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) for the past 25 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. At 2012 Molten has landed in the European football, and now supplying the Alashkert in the Armenian Premier League.

Molten supports several non-profit organizations and top leagues all over the world.

AFC

Starting from 2019, Molten will supply official match ball for all Asian Football Confederation (AFC) club and national team tournaments, including the upcoming 2019 AFC Asian Cup and AFC Champions League. The Molten Acentec was specifically designed for the Asian Cup, based on Vantaggio 5000.[5]

UEFA Europa League

Molten UEFA Europa League match ball

Starting from 2018–19 season, Molten will supply official match ball of UEFA Europa League, replacing Adidas. The unnamed official match ball of the tournament are also derived from Vantaggio 5000, albeit with custom design.[6]

Notes and references

  1. ↑ "Corporate Profile". Molten Corporation. Retrieved March 10, 2016.
  2. ↑ "Company Overview". Bloomberg Businessweek. Bloomberg L.P. Retrieved March 10, 2016.
  3. ↑ "Euroleague Basketball Announces Partnership with Nike". Euroleague Basketball. June 28, 2007. Retrieved July 2, 2007.
  4. ↑ Camacho, Mariano Jesús (February 15, 2016). "En busca de la esfera de Dios" [In search of the sphere of God]. Vavel (in Spanish). Retrieved March 10, 2016.
  5. ↑ "AFC appoints world-leading ball manufacturer Molten as official match ball supplier". www.the-afc.com. Retrieved 2018-10-13.
  6. ↑ UEFA.com. "Molten becomes UEFA Europa League match ball supplier". UEFA.com. Retrieved 2018-10-13.
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