While playing, Nielsen worked in the shoe and leather industry for additional financial support. This gave him the opportunity to explore and develop his own football designs. As a result, he founded the
Select Sport company in 1947, which continues today as one of the world's largest companies producing footballs. Eigil Nielsen is credited with creating the common 32-panel football design in 1962 using 20 hexagonal and 12 pentagonal patches. It quickly became popular when the
Adidas Telstar in 1970 became the first football in the
World Cup to use the design. ==References==