Teqball’s future in Australia: A chat with ATF President Jarred Bester

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Image credit: International Teqball Federation website

Teqball is one of the fastest growing sports in the world and the foundation of it in Europe and South America is seeping down towards Australia, where the sport is slowly but surely reaching the mainstream.

The Australian Teqball Federation (ATF) established in 2022 by President Jarred Bester and Vice President Shannon Bester has made a mark on the football scene in Australia very quickly with their portfolio of partners.

The ATF have secured partnerships with A-League clubs Brisbane Roar, Western United, Adelaide United and the Western Sydney Wanderers whilst also recently adding Football South Australia with a driving ambition to create a competitive scene that will eventually tune out some of the world’s best Teqball athletes.

In a chat with Soccerscene, ATF President Jarred Bester discusses the motivation to launch the federation, the ambition to become an Olympic sport and the popularity of the sport booming on social media.

The Australian Teqball Federation was established in 2022, a lot later than the rest of the world, where did the motivation to launch the federation come from initially?

For myself and Shannon (Vice-President) we’ve been involved in football for a long time. I’m an accredited coach and worked in football at various levels, Shannon & I have kids involved in sport, so we’ve always had that involvement & passion for football.

It would have been early 2022 where we got in touch with the manufacturer of the tables which is Teqball, as we were seeking equipment to support with athlete development. Our approach, wanting to know when Teqball was coming to Australia, they put us in touch with the International Teqball Federation (FITEQ, Fédération Internationale de Teqball), to assist with our enquiry as to “where can we play the sport” and at that time there was no iteration of Teqball in Australia. We started probing and asking the question, well “what would it take to get Teqball into Australia?”

We pretty much pushed the boat out to them to say we would be willing to help support bringing the sport into the country and they obliged and said they were keen to establish a federation in Australia. We pretty much put our hands up to be the ones to help get it off the ground.

One of the main goals on the website is Education and Training, comparing that with your current partnerships in the A-League and with the state federations, how will you implement that to grow the sport?

The remit of the federation is for the exposure of the sport, development and governance of the sport as the governing body essentially.

The partnerships we have with the A-Leagues club is from that promotional perspective because obviously they’ve got the member base and viewership of people that know football and Teqball is really closely related to football, there’s a lot of transferrable skills there.

From the perspective of the partnership with Football South Australia, that’s the training and education side. We are working with them at the moment to deliver courses for coaches and referees to bring that skill set up because to build a framework that’s going to support this sport going into the future, you have to have coaches and officials.

That’s what that partnership is really based upon, it’s giving access to the sport and the governance of the sport to coaches and referees to underpin what we’re trying to do with the development side of it, eventually creating athletes to represent Australia which goes back to our ultimate goal as the international federation across the world is to create an Olympic sport.

Image credit: International Teqball Federation website

That’s the ultimate goal and there is all these steps we need to take in between to get to that point, and these are the foundation points.

The Olympic goal was mentioned on the website, and it talked about establishing competitive leagues, tournaments and national championships. How is the competitive Teqball scene in Australia and how quickly is it growing?

In Australia, the Teqball competitive scene doesn’t yet exist, but we are working with a lot of clubs to try and establish grassroots clubs. We’re talking to clubs in Victoria, South Australia or New South Wales that are grassroots or NPL clubs and talking to them about establishing a Teqball club which we can then start to partner with the state federations.

We are currently fielding expressed interest in establishing a state-based Teqball federation which will be responsible for developing competitions in each state and then we can have state-run competitions, we can have national-run competitions (state vs state) and ultimately for us to be able to then start selecting athletes to represent Australia at the Teqball World Championships.

There are established leagues in other countries where, as you can tell, we’re the newest federation to come on the scene, so we’re sort of trying to build that grassroots level of Teqball to eventually go to state and national based competitions then put athletes forward for international competitions as well.

Teqball hasn’t quite hit the mainstream in Australia just yet. What about the sport is so entertaining and enticing for new audiences?

Teqball is the fastest growing sport in the world, it was established only 12 years ago and it’s now one of the biggest sports that has been taken on by new participants internationally.

Obviously, the world game being football, this is a sport that has many transferrable skills, it has been used as a training tool to help develop athletes, even in the elite sense there are many international clubs that use Teqball to help their players refine their touch and develop their ability to weigh their passes and things like that. It also is great for kids to help develop them with those hidden learnings where they’re having fun playing the sport but they’re learning and developing their skillset at the same time.

Where Teqball has a great niche is on social media, it’s an attractive sport to look at when it’s played at the very highest level, the technicality in it is amazing.

You have sports that are constantly trying to refine and create a more condensed, exciting version of their sport. AFL had the AFLX for a little while, Cricket has T20 that’s a condensed version with a bit more excitement, and Teqball is like that from its inception. Teqball is an exciting sport, you watch it, and you see some of the flair that athletes in the sport have, it’s super attractive from a social media perspective.

When you also have Ronaldo, Messi, Neymar all playing the sport and finding it fun and entertaining on top of the millions and millions of impressions if you use the hashtags around the sport of Teqball. It’s an engaging and technical sport with a flair aspect that is big on social media like TikTok and Instagram, which is a huge driver in its increase in popularity.

 

 

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Gold Coast International drives futsal growth as international interest surges

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Image Credits: Experience Gold Coast

The 2027 Gold Coast International is set to be the biggest year of growth in the tournament’s history. The tournament has become one of Australia’s premier futsal events. Attracting the best teams from not just Australia but around the world. Andrew Parkes is the founder and managing director of the Gold Coast City Futsal Association and an advisory board member at Football Queensland. He says the tournament, and its international reputation, is only strengthening.

“Registrations are actually a step up from what they were last year,” Parkes said.

“We’ve got several teams from New Zealand. At the moment, we’ve got some Pacific Island teams that have expressed interest in coming. We got interest from Japan, and from England as well.

“We’ve got over 140 teams so far, and that’s not including anything from the local areas.”

Over 200 teams attended the 2026 edition, and the Gold Coast International is well set to break that record next year. The figures show the tournament is becoming more than a local competition. It is building a strong national and international presence.

Football Queensland and Football Australia unite behind growth

Parkes believes collaboration has played a major role in the development of futsal in Queensland. The tournament is sanctioned by both Football Queensland and Football Australia. He praised Football Queensland for its work across the sport. He said the organisation has helped create a stronger and more professional futsal system. This relationship between state and national bodies and the event has allowed the Gold Coast to play host to the national competition as well. This ensures shared resources including referees and courts.

“Football Queensland have been a major driving force and a godsend in relation to the development of futsal,” Parkes said.

“We’ve got the nationals the week before the Gold Coast International now. We’re working in harmony and synergy and supporting each other.

“I think the proofs in the pudding, not just with the Gold Coast International, but with the exposure and obviously the diversity of teams that attend. But then the further development in our local leagues, and that’s resulted in.”

E-sports adds another pathway for players and clubs

E-sports has become another major part of the Gold Coast International. Parkes said he had explored the idea for several years and that the tournament allows the community to grow beyond just the physical players on the court. The use of e-sports also allows friends and families to have an interactive experience with simulators and games whilst at the Gold Coast International.

“We launched e-sports about 2 years ago, just with a bit of a light feel. We’ve incorporated the competition into the tournament fees, which is excellent. So it doesn’t cost anybody anymore to be part of it,” Parkes said.

“It actually allows the clubs and academies to extend on their current offerings as it is at the moment and allows gaming players to be part of the club, to be part of the atmosphere and to join and that unity and be part of that sporting community.”

“We had three times the amount of teams that we had from the first year of e-sports. We’re looking to probably even double that again this year, which is really exciting as well.”

New pathways shape the tournament’s future

Parkes wants the Gold Coast International to keep expanding. He is now looking at ways to create pathways beyond the tournament itself. He said the use of its international experiences that can be earned through the tournament is not only about investing in players. But ensuring coaches have a more time-efficient avenue to be involved with futsal. It also gives more coaches the chance to work with players at an international tournament.

“We’ve now created the Gold Coast International All Stars, which is now embraced by many of the coaches and the players,” Parkes said.

“That also provides coaches who don’t have the time or the ability or whatever for the state teams, and the commitment that they need to put in the state teams throughout the year.”

“It allows us to have a lot more outreach to far more coaches that have a lot of passion and enthusiasm, and be part of the Futsal community. They want to build on the players’ abilities but may not have that year-long or eight-month-long exposure that is required by the state Futsal team coaching staff.”

For Parkes, the future is about widening access while continuing to raise standards. The tournament is growing its international reach, strengthening partnerships and creating new opportunities for both physical and e-sports players. The Gold Coast International is no longer just a tournament. It is becoming a broader platform for the development of futsal and its wider community.

For more information on the Gold Coast International and to inquire about competing in the 2027 edition, visit their website.

The Spreadsheet Is Dead: Majestri’s Fix for How Clubs Actually Assess Players

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If you’ve ever sat through a club’s end-of-season review, you’ll know the drill. A coach pulls out a folder of notes, someone half-remembers what a player was like back in Round 3 and a parent quietly wonders what they actually got for their rego fees beyond a team photo. Football club platform Majestri says it has a fix for that, and it’s built directly into its Player Assessment module.

Why clubs bother assessing players in the first place

According to Majestri, clubs run player assessments for one of three reasons – usually more than one at once. Some are chasing genuine development, using the data to lift the level across their high-performance squads. Others are after a fairer way to pick teams, putting every player on the same measurable scale so selection is based on evidence rather than a coach’s gut feel about who “looks the part.” And for clubs operating under a Football Australia or state federation licence, assessments at set intervals often aren’t optional – they’re a compliance requirement, with the paperwork to prove it when asked.

Whatever the motivation, Majestri’s pitch is the same: don’t let that assessment data die in a spreadsheet on someone’s laptop.

Build your own assessment, your way

There’s no one-size-fits-all template here. The Assessment Designer lets technical directors set their own criteria, sort them into whatever categories their coaching staff already use – think core skills, possession, defending, attacking – and decide what each point on the rating scale actually means. Crucially, every criterion also gets a comment field, because a bare number rarely tells the full story of a player’s development.

The Assessment Module Builder for an NPL Juniors assessment
The Assessment Module Builder, showing an NPL Juniors assessment with a 1-10 rating scale banded from under performing through to excelling and role-specific criteria grouped into core skills, possession, defending and attacking. Source: Majestri.

Build it once and it’s reusable every time that assessment cycle comes around, so every player and every coach – is working off the same yardstick.

Something for the parents to actually take home

One of the more relatable pain points Majestri is targeting: most families never see much tangible return from a season of fees beyond a team photo. Player Assessment addresses that with report cards – colour-coded against the same scale coaches used, grouped by category with averages calculated automatically, and delivered as a PDF or an interactive web page a parent can read without needing a coaching badge themselves.

A player report card for an under-15 player
A report card for an under-15 player, colour-coded from under performing to excelling, with a score for every criterion and a group average across core skills, possession, defending and attacking. Source: Majestri.

 

Turning the numbers into something useful

The real value, though, sits in what Majestri calls the Player Analysis Lab. This is where clubs can plot a player against their team-mates or an entire age group across two categories at once, spotting clusters and outliers at a glance. Every score gets read against the group average – so a “7” actually means something in context – and clubs can report at the broad category level or drill into individual fields underneath. The results can be filtered down and exported for selection meetings or grading purposes.

The Player Analysis Lab comparing players in an under-15 and under-16 squad
The Player Analysis Lab comparing seven players across under-15 and under-16 squads, with a scatter plot, a sortable table of scores against the player average, and controls for choosing which categories and fields to report on. Source: Majestri.

The admin side nobody enjoys, made easier

Beyond the flashy analytics, there’s a practical layer built for the volunteers actually running the process:

  • Sweep monitoring – a quick view of which assessments are done and which are still outstanding, organised into defined assessment periods so progress can be tracked against peers.
  • Individual development plans – every player gets a personalised plan, and clubs can group common improvement areas to run cross-team training sessions that lift the whole club rather than just one squad.
  • Access control – coaches and technical staff can only see assessments for the teams they’re responsible for, and completed assessments are only visible to people linked to that player’s registration.
“Hard numbers to draw on when you review coaching staff and curriculum – and something tangible for the players and parents who pay the fees.” – Majestri

 

The bigger picture

Majestri frames all of this as sitting on top of the club’s own data – assessment results live on each player’s profile inside the platform rather than in a spreadsheet that walks out the door when a technical director moves on. For committees, it also means hard numbers to lean on when reviewing coaching staff or curriculum, rather than relying on anecdote.

It’s a fairly clear read on where club administration software is heading: less about digitising paperwork for its own sake, and more about making the data clubs already collect actually work for player development, team selection and compliance  without adding to the workload of the volunteers who run the show.

For more information on Majestri’s Player Assessment module, visit majestri.com.au/player-assessment.

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