[Image: Daniel Carson/Getty Images]

Football Federation Australia has announced BLK, Football Queensland’s Official Apparel Partner, as its official referee apparel supplier for the next four seasons.

The deal will see BLK, a subsidiary of WRS Group, produce all on field and training apparel for Hyundai A-League, Westfield W-League and Foxtel National Youth League referees through to the end of the 2018/19 season.

Queensland boasts more referees than any other state across this season’s Hyundai A-League and Westfield W-League panels with 16 representatives, while a further four have been selected for the Foxtel National Youth League.

FFA Director of Referees Ben Wilson praised BLK’s significant investment into Australian refereeing.

“BLK are an internationally recognised industry leading sportswear brand,” Wilson said on footballaustralia.com.au.

“They have a history of working with elite sporting organisations all around the world and we’re excited to partner with them to deliver the most comprehensive referee apparel partnership in FFA history.”

The new high performance apparel, which was launched at the FFA Pre-season Seminar at the Australian Institute of Sport in September, made its debut during the Westfield FFA Cup Quarter Finals.

“We’ve received positive feedback from our refereeing team and I’m confident the new and innovative BLK range will ensure our referees maintain peak performance in every match throughout the 2016/17 season,” Wilson said.

BLK CEO Tyron Brant echoed Wilson’s comments and expressed his excitement at welcoming FFA into the BLK family.

“With both the A-League and football in Australia exploding it is fantastic that the BLK brand will be on the pitch at every game,” Brant said.

“On a global stage there is a strong push into football from BLK and this partnership will just add to the credibility of BLK in the football market.”