The world's oldest surviving soccer ball, almost 500 years old, has been put on public display in the United States. Exhibit from the Scottish Art Gallery and Stirling Smith Museum already delivered to Miami (Florida), British Ambassador to the USA Christian Turner said. The artifact will be presented at the World Cup on Wednesday, June 25 at the Brazil-Scotland match.
In the mid-1970s, during excavations at Stirling Castle in Scotland, a leather ball was discovered behind oak paneling in the bedroom used by Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, in the 16th century. Since then, it has been considered the oldest soccer ball in the world, as recorded in the Guinness Book of Records.
“The examination confirmed that it is 436 years old and that it was created between 1540 and 1570. It is unknown whether the queen herself played with him, but it is more likely that soldiers and servants played a form of handball with him in the castle courtyard,” the book notes.
The ball, which is about the size of a melon, is made from thick panels of leather stitched together and turned inside out to make the surface smoother and more aerodynamic, and inside is a pig's bladder, NBC News said. The sports equipment is called “a real monument to football history.”
A bola mais antiga do mundo estará presente no duelo entre Brasil e Escócia.
A peça foi encontrada em um castelo na Escócia, e estudos apontam que ela foi produzida entre 1540 e 1570! ⚽️
Ela foi confeccionada em couro e possui uma bexiga de porco em seu interior, método usado… pic.twitter.com/mRQ05uXohQ
— DataFut (@DataFutebol) June 24, 2026
It will be exhibited at the Coral Gables Museum in Miami as part of the exhibition “Diplomacy and the Beautiful Game: From Scotland to Brazil and Haiti,” and will also be shown to the public at a World Cup match.
“This will be the first time that a ball that is five times older than the tournament itself will be presented at a World Cup match,” NBC News emphasizes.
The exhibit will be presented in the United States for the first time. Finding the ball alongside “the best players in the world and the most passionate fans in the United States” is a powerful reminder of the global significance of Scotland's collections, Lucy Casot, chief executive of Museums Galleries Scotland, told NBC.
“The world's oldest football is a unique artefact that links Scotland's rich sporting heritage to the game that is loved around the world,” Casot said.
Stirling Smith Art Gallery and Museum director Caroline joked that the artefact might bring good luck to the Scottish team. She also mentioned Queen Mary's love of sports. She, according to the head of the cultural institution, was interested not only in football, but also in golf, as well as knightly tournaments and tennis.
