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(Information below provided courtesy of the FA)

Ever wondered how some of the world’s most skillful players developed their ability to beat opponents at will?

What did they do as youngsters that provided them with the basis to becoming some of the world’s best players?

If you want the answer then you need to learn more about a game called FUTSAL!

What is Futsal?

Futsal comes to Europe

UEFA contributed to the growing popularity of the game by organising the first European championships in Spain. Russia took the title after a penalty shoot out. The tournament attracted large crowds and convinced UEFA to extend the development of the game, encouraging more of it’s member associations to take part in the qualifying rounds of the UEFA Championships held in Russia in 2001 and Italy in 2003.

Encouraged by the growth in stature of the domestic leagues in Europe, UEFA created the official European competition for Futsal clubs – the UEFA Futsal Cup in 2001, with teams from member associations earning their right to play in the competition by winning the National League or Championship organised by their own association.

The UEFA Futsal Cup continued into its third year with the 2003-2004 competition again being dominated by the Spanish clubs. It was however, a landmark season for English Futsal as it was the first year that a team participated in the competition and the first time that an English team playing small-sided football could participate in an official European competition. For the first time five a side players can start to dream of playing in the UEFA cup!

Futsal in England…

Futsal is still in the embryonic stages of development in England. It was kick-started by the visit of the first international Futsal team to English shores, when Tranmere Victoria, one of the few English Futsal teams at the time, hosted the Iranian National Team in October 2002. The skills of the professional Iranian team were exceptional and were reflected in the 30-1 score line! This was followed by a pilot futsal tournament hosted by Sheffield Hallamshire FA in the November of the same year. The Football Association then began to put in place plans to take the game forward and organised the inaugural FA National Championships.

The first National Championships were played in July 2003, drawing teams from regional qualifying competitions in London, Pendle Cheltenham, Wirral, Sheffield and Grimsby. Sheffield Hallam Futsal Club were crowned champions after recovering from a 0-4 deficit to beat Thomas Rother College 5-4. The finals of the 2004 FA Futsal Cup were contested by 16 teams. The winners Team USSR draw their players from 8 former countries of the Soviet Union.

As a means of show casing the game an England National Team has also been brought together to play International friendlies and the qualifying tournament for the 2005 UEFA Futsal championship. Drawing on English Futsal players and players involved in semiprofessional football this team has played against Iran, Uzbekistan, Indonesia, Belgium, Cyprus and Albania to date. The National squad train regulary at Lilleshal National Sports Centre and have the opportunity to represent their country in European and World Championships.

Futsal is a game that develops individual close ball skills through an increased number of touches during the game. Players are nearly always placed in reduced space situations and are constantly forced to make decisions demanding speed of thought and quick reflexes. On average a player will touch the ball twelve times more than in 11-a-side football.

Essentially 5-a-side but with some twists on how the game is currently played, Futsal has been designed to provide a high paced, energetic, fast flowing game for spectators at the same time as allowing players to be at their most creative by protecting those showing attacking flair.

The end-to-end, non-stop, goalmouth action has proven a hit with the fans as the number of professional leagues in the world game grows every year. Russia, Portugal, Italy, Brazil, Japan and Argentina all have professional leagues along with Spain, whose league regularly attracts over thirty thousand spectators a week to its games!