How is 3D Printing Used in Soccer?

3D printing has increasingly captured the interest of people from all walks of life, whether for personal hobby projects or professional manufacturing in construction, the automotive industry, aerospace, medicine, and much more. One versatile area that spans both personal and professional use is 3D printing in sports. We have already reported on innovative cycling backpacks, complex Formula 1 technologies, and even 3D-printed sports shoes from Nike and Adidas. Today, however, we want to take a closer look at arguably the most popular sport in the world: soccer, and specifically, the applications of additive manufacturing for soccer equipment.

Stadiums, Merchandising, and More

Before we move on to more obvious applications like clothing and face masks, we want to highlight a few examples from the wider world of soccer. Did you know, for instance, that the stadiums for the controversial World Cup in Qatar were tested using 3D-printed models? Qatar’s desert environment posed a major challenge for engineers and architects, as desert winds and heatwaves are both common and affect spectators as well as professional athletes. According to FIFA, a special wind tunnel was built in Qatar where 1:300 scale models were tested for their aerodynamics. Professor Saud Abdul Aziz Abdu Ghani from Qatar University described the tests as follows: “We can display the temperature for each level, add variables like sweat production and crowd size, then run the simulation and observe the impact on stadium temperatures.”

Stadiums of the 2022 Qatar World Cup (Credit: Qatar’s SCQA)