The first time I crocheted a soccer ball was on the occasion of the 2010 World Cup. It was being held on the continent of Africa, and I thought the African Flower hexagon motif was the perfect vehicle for a crochet soccer ball celebrating the continent’s first time hosting the World Cup:

This time around, instead of using all 9000 of my favorite colors, I limited myself to the colors of the flags of the thirty-two countries that had made it to the final rounds of the World Cup competition, and I did my best to incorporate the designs of their flags into the thirty-two hexagons and pentagons of a soccer ball.

Last Tuesday, I finally began the piecing, and here is a photo of my progress while the piece could still be laid out flat:

and here is a photo of how far I had gotten by as sunset neared last night:

Because I really wanted to get this done and because there is no time like the present, I worked on it last night until I could no longer keep my eyes open, and while it wasn’t quite done, this morning, after I was fortified with breakfast and coffee, I finished stuffing the ball:

And while my crochet soccer ball stuffing skills leave something to be desired, my 2014 World Cup soccer ball does not seem to be suffering for it:

If you are interested in making your own crochet soccer ball, I have put together this page about how to make the pieces, and this page about how to assemble it.

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