Founded in 1951, is a traditional family business with a company and production location in Gelsenkirchen / Germany. Here in the heart of the Ruhr area, in the immediate vicinity of the Veltins Arena and the FC Schalke 04, we produce and refine balls of various types of plastic and synthetic leather for sports, leisure and advertising purposes.

Nothing comes about without interest: without interest and without the desire to fiddling, the rubber hollow body factory in the former air raid shelter on Steinmetzstraße in Gelsenkirchen-Buer in the 50s would not have come to its feet. Here stands the cradle of 1951, initially under the two company founder "check and Zehrer" firmiert rio Ballfabrik. The company has specialized in advertising balls since the 1960s and has been represented at PSI for decades.

Even then, the "rios" were considered by experts to be the best rotationally produced plastic ball. The company achieved its big breakthrough after specializing in soft PVC balls with advertising imprints in addition to the previous Buntball program. In screen and pad printing, the balls are precisely and cleanly printed in any desired pattern and color. With the construction of the new factory in 1961 in Gelsenkirchen-Sutum, sufficient production space and storage capacity were created for the rapidly growing operation. Later it had to be grown again.

The rio Ballfabrik in Gelsenkirchen can now look back on a long tradition in the company and is today one of the leading ball manufacturers and refiners in Europe. Most balls are delivered to the promotional products wholesaler and adorn the names or the company logo of many well-known companies.

Our service, which is in close contact with the customer, guarantees you 100% customer protection, short delivery times, rapid sampling, sufficient delivery capacities and prices that will pleasantly surprise you.

To advertise easily, the rio company slogan propagates today. The sole owner today is Gunnar Fuchs, who replaced his mother Carmen Fuchs at the top of the company on December 31, 2007, thus continuing the family tradition in the third generation. With a strong team of motivated employees, the Gelsenkirchen plant supplies both old and new customers throughout Europe.