Brine Championship Match Ball Review
At some point in time, especially if you live in North America, you have probably used a Brine soccer ball. The Brine Championship is the current match ball of the NCAA and for good reason. Using a classic, hand-stitched, 32 panel design, the Brine Championship definitely doesn’t come across as a premium match ball, especially in comparison the match balls being put out by Nike and Adidas. That being said, there is a reason why the classic 32 panel design is still around, and the answer to that is consistency.
The panels are made from a firm, but still fairly thin, PU material with a glossy finish. Partnered with a very high quality bladder, which is one of the main differences between a low-end and high-end soccer balls, and you have a ball that has a slightly soft feel to it. What I mean by this is that the ball has some give to it, where you can feel your foot sink into the ball ever so slightly when there is a hard impact between ball and foot. This makes for a ball that has a very forgiving touch, which is great. Another really important aspect of this ball is the balance. From the first time that you start juggling this ball, the ball almost has this feeling of almost being too light, similar to what many felt from the Adidas Jabulani Match Ball, a ball that I really didn’t like. The reason that the ball may feel a little lighter is due to a near perfect balance and consistency. This means that no matter what part of the ball that comes in contact with your foot, the feeling of the ball will be the same.
Something that I can really appreciate about this ball is the predictability. You’ll here me talking about this a lot when I am talking about soccer balls because it is very important. When you strike a ball correctly, you expect the ball to react exactly as you have kicked it, which is exactly what you get from the Championship. The last very important part of this ball is the warranty. This ball does cost $120, but included in that price is a 3 year warranty, which is huge. Should anything at all go wrong with your Brine Championship, Brine will happily replace it within that 3 years for free, something that is rare from any company for any product, not even just including soccer balls.
As a match ball, this is definitely one of the more simple ones, but it also goes to show how high quality materials, put together properly, can become a fantastic product. Backed by the best warranty in the business, the Brine Championship is easily up to par with the rest of the match balls currently on the market. I was a really big fan of the Nike Match ball, and I can now say that the Brine Championship is every bit as good, with the extra warranty. While it definitely isn’t as flashy as some other match balls, it certainly does perform at the same level. If you are in the market for a premium match ball to last, the Brine Championship is a great choice.
Final Score 10 out of 10
