TX Football’s Hikari Ball: Reviving Tradition Through Japanese Craftsmanship

In an era where mass production often comes at the cost of tradition, the Hikari ball represents a quiet defiance. Engineered with a clear mission: to restore the softness, responsiveness, and premium quality that defined a first-class match ball, before mainstream brands drifted away from conventional Japanese materials.

The Hikari ball brings back a silicon base – a feature rarely seen since the early 2000s, when most brands moved away from it due to cost. TX Football has revived this technology, using a silicon gel layer within the TPU foam between the outer cover. The result is a ball that feels more cushioned, softer to the touch, and easier to control. Japan is known worldwide for its unmatched attention to detail and consistency, and the ball mirrors exactly that.

Players immediately notice the difference: the ball feels softer on impact, offers greater responsiveness underfoot, and allows for more precise control. By reviving this material, TX Football has managed to strike a balance between modern durability and the kind of comfort and playability that older match balls were celebrated for. It’s a small change with a big impact, restoring the natural connection between player and ball.

When it comes to performing across different weather conditions and playing surfaces, the Hikari ball lives up to the same high standards as TX Football’s other premium balls. Even in wet conditions, its top layer ensures the ball remains grippy and controllable, minimising any slipperiness.

While some other balls on the market feature a smooth TPU layer that can feel slippery in wet conditions, the Hikari ball stands out with its textured surface and silicon base, making it noticeably easier to control even when the pitch is wet.

Designed to excel in both training environments and competitive matches, the Hikari ball reflects TX Football’s dedication to precision, durability, and high performance. Through the integration of innovative materials and careful craftsmanship, it provides a consistently reliable, premium playing experience, enabling athletes to perform at their highest level with confidence, every time they step onto the field.

Since the company manages every step of production in-house, rather than outsourcing to a factory, it has complete control over quality and costs. This hands-on approach allows the team to oversee every detail, from the materials used to the finishing touches, ensuring that each product meets their high standards.

Without the overhead of a large external manufacturing process, the company can avoid unnecessary expenses, which in turn keeps the price of their products more accessible.

Image credit: One Nil Media

Unlike major market brands, which often rely heavily on name recognition to justify higher price tags, this company focuses on value and fairness. By keeping the mark-up low, they make their products affordable for both parents and players, allowing young athletes to access high-quality equipment without placing a financial burden on families. This approach reflects the company’s belief that great performance shouldn’t come at an unreasonable cost.

Additionally, handling everything internally fosters a sense of pride and accountability. Each ball isn’t just a product; it’s a reflection of the team’s dedication, craftsmanship, and passion for the game. Customers can feel confident that the product they’re purchasing is the result of meticulous care and genuine expertise, rather than mass production driven solely by profit. This philosophy has allowed the TX Football to build a reputation for quality, consistency, and trustworthiness in a competitive market.

By combining affordability, attention to detail, and hands-on production, the company continues to provide equipment that supports players at every level, staying true to its mission of making top-quality sports gear accessible to all.

The Hikari ball is engineered to provide reliable performance over an extended period, with an expected lifespan of around two years under regular weekend play, much like a standard premium football. TX Football recognises that consistent use can naturally wear on even the highest-quality equipment, which is why the company provides a 12-month warranty for constant play.

This warranty offers players and parents reassurance that the ball is built to last and that any issues during regular use are covered. By combining durability, thoughtful design, and reliable performance, the Hikari ball ensures players can enjoy every match with confidence.

TX Football’s in-house designer led the creation of the Hikari ball, developing both its overall structure and the distinctive surface pattern. Drawing inspiration from Japanese aesthetics, the team chose a subtle cherry blossom motif to reflect elegance, precision, and cultural heritage.

This designer plays a key role across the company, contributing not only to ball designs but also to the development of other kit and equipment, ensuring a consistent level of creativity, functionality, and quality throughout TX Football’s product range. Their work combines technical expertise with artistic vision, bringing a thoughtful and distinctive identity to every piece of equipment.

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Award-Winning Broadcaster Joe Schmit to Headline Queensland Football Convention

Football Queensland has secured internationally renowned keynote speaker and Emmy Award-winning broadcaster Joe Schmit as the headline act for the 2025 Queensland Football Convention.

The acclaimed presenter, widely regarded as a “must-watch” on the speaking circuit, will deliver The Impact Playbook – a high-energy session aimed at helping attendees become more intentional and aware of their influence as leaders, colleagues and community members.

Football Queensland CEO Robert Cavallucci said the organisation was thrilled to welcome Schmit to the annual event.

“Joe has enjoyed an illustrious career and brings a wealth of experience in inspiring audiences around the world,” he said via press release.

“His ability to speak on leadership, growth and building positive culture within high-performance teams aligns strongly with football in Queensland and with our community’s aspirations.

“I’m confident Joe’s message will provide immense value to all attendees, reinforcing our 2025 Convention theme of Elevate the Debate and supporting our core pillars of growth, sustainability and technology.”

Schmit brings 25 years of experience as a keynote speaker and recently retired from an award-winning 40-year career in sports broadcasting with Minnesota’s KSTP-TV.

He has authored two nationally recognised leadership books – Silent Impact, now in its second edition, and The Impact Blueprint – and remains deeply involved in philanthropic and charitable work in his local community.

The Queensland Football Convention will once again bring together clubs, coaches, players and industry leaders from across the state, providing a unique platform to share ideas, explore new opportunities and strengthen the game’s future in Queensland.

As the official media partner of this convention, Soccerscene believes in the strong positive impact this convention will have on attendees from all levels of the sport.

Gaining access to the wealth of knowledge and experience at this convention will be critical to developing the future of Queensland football.

Soccerscene has also been given access to give anyone purchasing a ticket a special 20% partners discount through the link below.

The Queensland Football Convention will be held from the 25-26th of October 2025 at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre.

Embrace this amazing opportunity and don’t miss out, Click below!

https://au.entegy.events/qld-convention-soccerscene

GIS Industry Masterclass Highlights Pathways for Women’s Sport

This month, the Global Institute of Sport (GIS) held an industry masterclass with guest speakers discussing the future of development in women’s sport.

The masterclass panel had two key speakers:

  • Chantella Perera, General Manager of Sport at KOJO.
  • Yael Reed, a sports marketing consultant who has worked with Newcastle Jets, Football Australia and Netball NSW.

These two industry experts, representing different areas of the women’s sporting world, delved into answering the event’s important goal of growth and sponsorship in women’s sport.

The role that media and commercial partners have in elevating women’s sport was a key point. Discussion was centred around the importance of encouraging broadcasters to invest in women’s sport directly and not just through male sport avenues.

Yael Reed spoke about the importance of media revenue being invested into women’s sports.

“Media partners with broadcast and commercial revenue is ultimately what is invested in the sport, and you need to invest to grow,” she said.

“Broadcast and commercial revenue also contributes to paying the players

“Media and coverage revenue is what is invested into the sport and their support is needed to help sports to grow, but also to benefit from, Women’s sport is no longer the steak knives.”

Chantella Perera, a former professional sportsperson and with KOJO a big leader in women’s sports events, outlined the position of women’s sports:

“From grassroots we see more equity with facilities and infrastructure for girls now. From my field in the event world lens, the investment from clubs and leagues is improving year on year. The disparity is still huge,” Perera said.

“There must be money invested to grow it. Yes, it is changing—a lot more females can do it as a job.

“But I feel we are still talking a lot but not doing a lot. People can make action, and it doesn’t have to be huge actions. Making those small steps towards that change is where we move forward.

“The Matildas’ success at the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup has sparked a rise in interest towards women’s football in the country.”

Perera, however, commented on the slow impact it has produced:

“It did have an impact with the eyes and traction, but we are still waiting for the influx of cash,”

“I’d challenge the effect and ask: two years on, have we seen enough from it? I just want to see if we can get more from it.”

A key point regarding investing in women’s sport and central to the discussion was how to invest in the differences between men’s and women’s sport.

Reed expressed her key ways in which this step can be tackled:

“It’s important for brands to consider Who they are trying to connect with? The benefit of women’s sport is it’s fresh and new (compared to men’s sport). There’s a lot to be unexpected. There are amazing people playing the sport and their story needs to be told,”

“I think when you can connect with athletes, with clubs, and harness that promotion and opportunity that’s there with women’s sport.

“The opportunity in women’s sport is to expect the unexpected.” Reed highlighted.

The important question of brand alignment became central to the discussion, with the equation for branding being relevance multiplied by emotion equals impact.

To harness the sponsor’s relevance to the team and the sport, harnessing that emotion and being relevant to the fans and showing up for them and having an impact promotes any brand.

An example presented by Reed was the Suzuki partnership with the Swifts:

“By putting players in their content and in the car the swift has been really positive,”

“The business case is there. We now have a greater asset in women’s sport to take your brands to the next level

“To have a women’s demographic is such a good asset for business branding.”

Women’s sport has faced challenges in gaining support and funding to expand and delve into the ever-growing popularity of the women’s game.

Sponsorships and businesses trying to grow their portfolio and market shouldn’t underestimate the power that women’s sport and football have.

It is unique and it is unexpected, as was discussed centrally in this masterclass.

The ways to grow women’s sport are there, and the benefits are evident. Sponsors need to take the necessary step and will undoubtedly reap the rewards if they do so.

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