User:Alistairjh/Development/Futsal

Futsal is an indoor version of association football. Its name is derived from the Portuguese futebol de salão and the Spanish fútbol sala/de salón, which can be translated as 'indoor football'. In Madrid 1985 the name fútbol de salón and all other names the game was called were changed officially and internationally into FUTSAL.

Futsal is played between two teams of five players, one of whom is the goalkeeper, and up to seven substitutes per team. Unlike some other forms of indoor football, the game is played on a hard court surface delimited by lines; walls or boards are not used. Futsal is also played with a smaller ball with less bounce than a regulation football. The rules create an emphasis on improvisation, creativity and technique as well as ball control and passing in small spaces.

Other forms of indoor football games, which are played by somewhat different rules, exist and may be referred to as indoor football, five-a-side football or indoor soccer. Many of these codes predate FIFA's adoption and endorsement of futsal rules; the American indoor soccer variant, with a regulation-sized ball, larger artificial turf-covered court, and walls off which the ball may be rebounded, has sustained professional leagues in that country for over thirty years.

History

Futsal was started in Montevideo, Uruguay, in 1930 when Juan Carlos Ceriani created a version of football for competition in YMCAs. In Brazil, this version developed on the streets of Sao Paulo, and eventually a rule book was published. The sport began to spread across South America, and it's popularity ensured that a governing body was formed under the name of FIFUSA (Federación Internacional de Fútbol de Salón) in 1971, along with the World Championships. The first FIFUSA World Championships were held in Sao Paulo, with hosts Brazil crowned champions ahead of Paraguay and Uruguay. Even more countries participated in the second World Championships held in Madrid in 1985. Due to a dispute between FIFA and FIFUSA over the administration of fútbol, FIFUSA coined the word fut-sal in 1985.

FIFA took control of the World Championships in 1989. Under new rules made by FIFA, the technical aspects of the game for players and spectators were improved. The linesmen were replaced with a second referee and there were unlimited substitutions. It also introduced a size 4 football, which was weighted to reduce bounce by 30% compared to a conventional ball, which enabled faster play and, for the first time, scoring goals with the head.

Argentina - Brazil futsal game.

FIFA's relationships with its member associations allowed more countries to gain knowledge and resources about futsal. FIFA soon began to administer its own indoor football games, hosting its first FIFA Indoor Soccer World Championship in 1989 in Rotterdam, Netherlands. In 1992 it was the FIFA Five-a-Side World Championship (Hong Kong) and since 1996 it has been called the FIFA Futsal World Championship (Guatemala). Thanks to the increase of the number of nations that participated in the FIFA Futsal World Championships held in 2000, Brazil's dominance in the competition was ended by Spain.

In 2004, members of PANAFUTSAL (La Confederación Panamericana de Futsal, The Pan-American Futsal Confederation) formed AMF (Asociación Mundial de Fútbol de Salón, World Futsal Association), an international futsal governing body independent of FIFA. Both FIFA and AMF continue to administer the game.

Rules

As international governing bodies of futsal, FIFA and AMF are responsible for maintaining and promulgating the official rules of their respective versions of futsal. Like football, futsal has 'laws' that define all aspects of the game, including what may be changed to suit local competitions and leagues. There are seventeen laws in the Futsal Laws of the Game.

Players, equipment and officials

The Brazil futsal team line up before a match.

There are five players on each team, one of which is the goalkeeper. The maximum number of substitutes allowed is seven, with unlimited substitutions during the match. Substitutes can come on even when the ball is in play. If a team has less than three players in the team, the match is abandoned.

The kit is made up of a jersey or shirt with sleeves, shorts, socks, shinguards made out of rubber or plastic and shoes with rubber soles. The goalkeeper is allowed to wear long trousers and a different coloured kit, to distinguish himself from the other players in the team and the referee. Jewellery is not allowed, as are other items that could be dangerous to themselves or other players.

The match is controlled by a referee who enforce the Laws of the Game, and the first referee is the only one who can can abandon the match because of interference from outside the pitch. This referee is also assisted by a second referee. The decisions made by the referees are final, and can only be changed if the referees think it is necessary and play has not restarted. There is also a third referee and a timekeeper, who are provided with equipment to keep a record of fouls in the match. In the event of injury to the referee or second referee, the third referee will replace the second referee.

The pitch

The pitch is made up of wood or artificial material, although any flat, smooth and non-abrasive material may be used. The length of the pitch is in the range 38-42m and the width is in the range 18-25m in international matches. For other matches, it can be from 25-42m in length, while the width can be 15-25m, as long as the length of the longer boundary lines (touchlines) are greater than the shorter boundaries where the goals are placed (goal lines). The ceiling must be at least 4 metres high. A rectangular goal is positioned at the middle of each goal line. The inner edges of the vertical goal posts must be 3m apart, and the lower edge of the horizontal crossbar supported by the goal posts must be 2m above the ground. Nets made of hemp, jute or nylon are attached to the back of the goalposts and crossbar. The lower part of the nets shall be attached to curved tubing or another suitable means of support. The depth of the goal is 80cm at the top and 1m at the bottom.

A futsal arena in Tokyo.

In front of each goal is an area known as the penalty area. This area is created by drawing quarter circles with a 6m radius from the goal line, centred on the goalposts. The upper part of each quarter circle is then joined by a 3.16m line running parrallel to the goal line between the goalposts. The line marking the edge of the penalty area is known as the penalty area line. The penalty area marks where the goalkeeper is allowed to touch the ball with his hands. The penalty mark is six metres from the goal line when it reaches the middle of the goalposts. The second penalty mark is 10 metres from the goal line when it reaches the middle of the goalposts. A penalty kick from the penalty spot is awarded if a player commits a foul inside the penalty area. The second penalty spot is used if a player commits his team’s sixth foul in the opposing team’s half or in his own half in the area bordered by the halfway line and an imaginary line parallel to the halfway line passing through the second penalty mark, the free kick shall be taken from the second penalty mark.

Duration and tie-breaking methods

A standard match consists of two equal periods of 20 minutes. The length of either half is extended to allow penalty kicks to be taken, or a direct free kick to be taken against a team that has committed more than five fouls. The half time interval between the two halves cannot exceed 15 minutes.

In some competitions, the game cannot end in a draw, so away goals, extra time and penalties are the three methods for determining the winner after a match has been drawn. Away goals mean that if the teams’ score is level after playing one home and one away game, the goals scored in the away match count as double. Extra time consists of two periods of five minutes. If no winner is produced after these methods, five penalties are taken and the team that have scored the most wins. If it is not decided after five penalties, it continues to go on until one team has scored more goals than the other. Unlike extra time, the goals scored in a penalty shoot out do not count towards the goals scored throughout the match.

The start and restart of play

At the beginning of the match, a coin toss is used to decide who will start the match. A kick off is used to signal the start of play, and is also used at the start of the second half, and any periods of extra time. It is also used after a goal has been scored, with the other team starting the play. After a temporary stoppage for any reason not mentioned in the Laws of the Game, the referee will drop the ball where the play was stopped, provided that prior to the stoppage the ball was in play and had not crossed either the touch lines or goal lines.

If the ball goes over the goal line or touchline, hits the ceiling, or the play is stopped by the referee, the ball is out of play. If it hits the ceiling of an indoor arena, play is restarted with a kick-in to the opponents of the team that last touched the ball, under the place where it hit the ceiling.

Misconduct

Players are cautioned with a yellow card, and sent off with a red card.

A direct free kick can be awarded to the opposing team if a player succeeds or attempts to kick or trip an opponent, jumping, charging or pushing an opponent, or striking or attempting to strike an opponent. Holding, touching or spitting at an opponent are offenses that are worthy of a direct free kick, as are sliding in to play the ball while your opponent is playing it or carrying, striking or throwing the ball (except the goalkeeper). These are all accumulated fouls. The direct free kick is taken where the infringement occurred, unless it is awarded to the defending team in their penalty area, in which case the free kick may be taken from anywhere inside the penalty area. A penalty kick is awarded if a player commits one of the fouls that are worthy of a direct free kick inside his own penalty area. The position of the ball does not matter as long as it is in play.

An indirect free kick shall be awarded to the opposing team if a goalkeeper clears the ball but then touches it with his hands before anyone else, if he controls the ball with his hands when it has been kicked to him by a team-mate, or if he touches or controls the ball with his hands or feet in his own half for more than four seconds. An indirect free kick is also awarded to the opposing team if a player plays in a dangerous manner, deliberately obstructs an opponent, prevents the goalkeeper from throwing the ball with his hands or anything else for which play is stopped to caution or dismiss a player. The indirect free kick shall be taken from the place where the infringement occurred.

Yellow and red cards are both used in Futsal. The yellow card is to caution players over their actions, and if they get two they are given a red card, which means they are sent off the field. A yellow card is shown if a player shows unsporting behaviour, dissent, persistant infringement of the Laws of the Game, delaying the restart of play, failing to respect the distance of the player from the ball when play is being restarted, infringement of substitution procedure or entering, re-entering and leaving the pitch without the referee's permission. A player is shown the red card and sent off if they engage in serious foul play, violent conduct, spitting at another person, denying the opposing team a goal by handling the ball (except the goalkeeper inside his penalty area). Also punishable with a red card is denying an opponent moving towards the player’s goal an goalscoring opportunity by committing an offence punishable by a free kick or a penalty kick, using offensive, insulting or abusive language or gestures. A player who has been sent off must leave the vicinity of the pitch. A substitute player come on two minutes after a team-mate has been sent off, unless a goal is scored before the the end of the two minutes. If a team of five players scores against a team of less than five players, another player can be added to the team with less than five players. If the teams are equal when the goal is scored, or if the team with less players scores, both teams remain with the same number of players.

Popularity

Futsal is one of the most rapidly growing indoor sports, played by an estimated 110 million people in over 100 countries. There are professional leagues in Brazil, Spain, Russia and Japan and coverage of leagues is very popular in Spain, Italy, Brazil, Croatia, Romania, Ukraine and Russia. It is played by millions in many places in Europe, and the United States has futsal associations in 42 states with 70,000 players. The amount of national teams competing for the FIFA Futsal World Cup has went up from 16 to 104 countries , leading to speculation that it may become an Olympic sport.

Ranking

As of December 30, 2008 the top 20 teams are:

#	Team	Points
1	Brazil	1973
2	Spain	1936
3	Italy	1764
4	Iran	1684
5	Portugal	1671
6	Russia	1630
7	Argentina	1559
8	Ukraine	1492
9	Paraguay	1418
10	Japan	1404
11	Serbia	1376
12	Hungary	1345
13	Thailand	1344
14	Belarus	1330
15	Czech Republic	1328
16	Slovenia	1295
17	Croatia	1268
17	United States	1268
19	Uzbekistan	1263
20	Belgium	1256

Major international competitions

Main articles: FIFUSA/AMF Futsal World Cup, FIFA Futsal World Cup, and Futsal at the 2007 Pan American Games

Time period	Competition	Year	City	Country	Winner	Runner-Up	3rd	4th	Annotations
1971 - 2002	FIFUSA World Futsal Championships	1982	São Paulo	Brazil	Brazil	Paraguay
		1985	Madrid	Spain	Brazil	Spain
		1988		Australia	Paraguay	Brazil
		1991		Italy	Portugal	Paraguay
		1994		Argentina	Argentina	Colombia
		1997		Mexico	Venezuela	Uruguay
		2000		Bolivia	Colombia	Bolivia
Since 2002	AMF World Futsal Championships	2003	Asunción	Paraguay	Paraguay	Colombia
		2007	Mendoza	Argentina	Paraguay	Argentina
Since 1989	FIFA Futsal World Cups	1989	Rotterdam	Netherlands	Brazil	Netherlands	USA	Belgium
		1992	Hong Kong	Britain	Brazil	USA	Spain	Iran
		1996	Barcelona	Spain	Brazil	Spain	Russia	Ukraine
		2000	Guatemala City	Guatemala	Spain	Brazil	Portugal	Russia
		2004		Taiwan	Spain	Italy	Brazil	Argentina
		2008		Brazil	Brazil	Spain	Italy	Russia
2007	Pan American Games	2007	Rio de Janeiro	Brazil	Brazil	Argentina	Paraguay		It was the first time the sport was played in a Pan American Games mainly because the event was held in Brazil. It might be played in Guadalajara 2011.

Since 2008

AMF Women's World Futsal Championships

Year	City	Political land	Winner	Runner-Up	3rd	4th
2008	Reus	Catalonia	Catalonia	Galicia	Colombia	Russia

Other competitions

• Futsal Intercontinental Clubs Cup

Africa

• African Futsal Championship
• North African Futsal Cup

Asia

• AFC Futsal Championship
• Asian Indoor Games Futsal Championship
• ASEAN Futsal Championship

Australia

• Australian National Futsal Championships

Europe

• UEFA Futsal Championship
• UEFS Futsal Championship
• UEFA Futsal Cup

Oceania

• Oceanian Futsal Championship

South America

• South American Futsal Championship
• Odesur Games
• Torneo Sudamericano de Clubes de Futsal

Intercontinental

• Futsal Mundialito
• Grand Prix de Futsal
• Arab Futsal Championship

See also

• Futsal in Australia
• Futsal in Brazil
• Futsal in Catalonia
• Futsal in England
• Futsal in Iran
• Futsal in Libya
• Futsal in Norway
• Futsal In Scotland
• Futsal in Spain
• Futsal in Sweden

External links

• SnapSports Official FUTSAL Flooring
• Futsal World Ranking
• Futsal in Brazil
• Futsal in Iran
• Futsal in Australia and New Zealand
• Futsal in Canada
• Futsal in Finland
• Futsal France (Sportrip Futsal Marseille)
• Futsal France (UNCFs)
• Futsal France (Sporting Club de Paris)
• Futsal in Croatia
• Futsal in Rwanda
• Futsal in Northern Ireland
• Futsal in Slovenia
• Futsal in Spain
• Futsal in Sweden
• Futsal in Germany
• Futsal in Thailand
• Futsal in Zambia
• Futsal in the United States
• Futsal in Poland
• Futsal in Hungary

References

Category:Football (soccer) variants Category:Team sports Category:Football (soccer) terminology

Sources

BBC SPORT | Football | Get Involved | Find out about futsal

Futsal is an exciting five-a-side version of football. It's very popular in Europe, Asia and South America - and now the UK is catching on.

Futsal is a non-contact game played with a specially designed ball that has 30% less bounce than a conventional ball.

Managers can make up to seven substitutions during a game and play doesn't have to stop for a substitution to be made.

The whole idea of futsal is to improve your skills on the ball. Great players like Pele, Zico and Ronaldinho learnt many of their skills from futsal - and if it's good enough for them, it's good enough for us!

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TheFA.com - History Of Futsal

History Of Futsal

Keen to emphasise the South American roots of a sport that the likes of Ronaldo, Denilson and Roberto Carlos all grew up playing, Futsal was the name chosen by FIFA for the only version of 5-aside football that it supports, when it took over as the governing body of the sport in 1989.

After the first FIFA Futsal World Championships that took place in the Netherlands in the same year, Futsal began to increase in stature as more and more Associations began to adopt the sport, keen to take advantage of it’s benefits in developing players for the bigger game. Individual close ball skills are developed through an increased number of touches during the game, whilst players are nearly always placed in reduced space situations and are constantly forced to make decisions demanding speed of thought and quick reflexes.

Essentially 5-aside but with some twists on how the game is currently played across most of England, 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 and Argentina all have professional leagues along with Spain, the current World Champions, whose league regularly attracts over thirty thousand spectators a week to it’s games.

Futsal is also set to explode onto the football scene in Asia with Iran already boasting a professional league and countries such as Japan, Malaysia, Thailand all keen to follow. Chinese Taipei will also be hosting the fifth FIFA World Championships in December 2004, which will see almost 90 associations take part in the qualifying stages, an increase on the 64 that took part in the qualifying for the 2000 Championships held in Guatemala.

Futsal fever is currently encapsulating most of the globe but it owes a great deal of its success and all of its appeal to the streets and playgrounds of South America were the game was first conceived.

South American Origins…

Futsal has it’s origins in the South American countries of Uruguay and Brazil where, in the 1930’s, two versions of small sided football were being played in the cities of Montevideo and Sao Paulo respectively.

Meanwhile in Brazil, a version began to develop on the streets of Sao Paulo, leading to the publishing of the first rules of the game in 1936 from the country that would soon become the masters of the game.

The sport began to spread from the South American continent and with it’s growing popularity came the need for a governing body and a World Championships. The International Federation for Futebol de Sala, FIFUSA, was officially founded in Brazil in 1971 and the first FIFUSA world championships were held in Sao Paulo with the hosts taking first place ahead of Paraguay and Uruguay. The Brazilians fielded stars from their 11-aside game that had been brought up playing the sport with amongst others Pele, Rivelino, Falcao and Zico demonstrating their skills as Futsal players.

The game continued to grow under FIFUSA with even more countries participating in the second world championships that took place in 1985, this time hosted in Madrid.

FIFA Takes Control…

It was becoming clear that the sport was beginning to outgrow FIFUSA and in 1989 FIFA took over as the governing body, abbreviating Futebol de Sala to ‘Futsal’ and organising the first FIFA Futsal World Championship held in the Netherlands in the same year.

Under FIFA’s control new rules were introduced aimed at improving the technical and aspects of the game for players and spectators alike. The ball was made slightly larger (increased to a size 4) but still weighted to reduce bounce, the linesmen were replaced with the second referee and unlimited substitutions were introduced.

FIFA’s relationships with its member associations enabled more and more countries to gain access to futsal knowledge and resources. This was no doubt a major factor in the increase in the number of participating nations in the fourth FIFA world championships held in Gautamala City in 2000, in which Spain ended the dominance of Brazil in world Futsal beating them in the final. This was the crowning glory on an excellent performance by all the UEFA Associations taking part.

UEFA Dominance…

The dominance of UEFA associations at the Guatemala finals did not come out of blue and was the result of a development plan that began in 1996 when UEFA, recognising the growth in Futsal across the continent in the early 1990’s, arranged a European tournament for national teams in Cordoba, Spain, which was eventually won by the hosts.

UEFA continued to build on the growing popularity of the game, organising the first European Championships back in Spain but this time in Granada, which the Russians won after a penalty shoot out. The tournament attracted record number of crowds and convinced UEFA to carry on with the development of the game, encouraging even more of it’s member associations to take part in the qualifying rounds of the second UEFA Championships held in Moscow in 2001.

In the same year, 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, 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 it’s 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 from England participated in the competition, having previously been noticeable by their absence from European Futsal.

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Northern Ireland Futsal | Belfast 5 a side Football Leagues | Futsal History

Introduction Futsal is FIFA's version of indoor 5-a-side football. It uses a special reduced rebound Futsal ball, smaller goals and touchlines so the ball can go out of play. 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. Some of the world's greatest players past and present have attributed their skills to Futsal. Pele, Socrates, Zico, Ronaldinho, Ronaldo, Kaka to name a few.

The sport is proving popular amongst the public both for spectators and professional or amateur players. Brazil, Portugal, Spain, Russia, Argentina, Italy and Japan all have professional leagues. The Spanish league regularly attracts thirty thousand spectators a week to its games. FIFA statistics show that an estimated 25 million people worldwide play the game. In Italy the game is more popular than traditional football with around 4 million people playing Futsal compared to 1 million playing the traditional 11 a side game, Futsal is also the number 1 sport in Portuguese schools and universities.

History of the game Futsal's origins begin in 1930 in the capital of Uruguay Montevideo. Uruguay the four times world champions are the hosts and winners of FIFA's inaugral world cup beating Argentina 2 1 in the final . In the aftermath of Uruguay's victory the streets of Montevideo are filled with people playing football. Juan Carlos Ceriani an Argentinian professor of physical education working in Montevideo at the time observed young people playing on basketball courts due to the shortage of proper pitches in the capital and formulated a set of rules for an indoor version of 5 a side football to played at the basketball court at the YMCA in Montevideo.

Brazil The idea of playing football indoors may have originated from Uruguay, but the defining characteristic of Futsal the low smaller reduced bounce ball was Brazilian. Finding a regular football too bouncy and impractical for indoor play the Brazilians began experimenting with balls filled with sawdust and cork to reduce the balls bounce. Futebol de salão (Futsal is an abbreviation of these words) meaning 'drawing room football' was nicknamed the sport of the heavy ball. In the 1950s the first Brazilian state Futsal federation was founded in 1954 the Metropolitan Futsal Federation of Rio de Janeiro. In 1979 the Brazilian Futsal Confederation was founded in Rio de Janeiro. In 1971 in Sao Paolo the first international governing body was formed, FIFUSA (International Federation of Futebol de salão).

European futsal Europe's governing body UEFA organised Europe's first championships in 1996 in Córdoba Spain. With the hosts convincingly beating Italy in the semis and Russia in the final to claim the first European title. In 1999 UEFA implemented the official European Futsal Championships with Spain as hosts. The tournament in Granada drew huge crowds with Spain narrowly missing out on the title to Russia after a penalty shoot out. The UEFA Futsal Cup was implemented the same year. With club sides earning the right for entry by winning their respective league, the Futsal equivalent of the Champions League.

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Federation of Futsal USA - Powered by Zortal

The origin of Futsal can be traced back to Montevideo, Uruguay, in 1930 when Juan Carlos Ceriani devised a five-a–side version of soccer for youth competition in YMCAs. The game is played on basketball-sized courts, both indoors and out without the use of sidewalls.

The term FUTSAL is the international term used for the game. It is derived from the Spanish or Portuguese word for "soccer", FUTbol or FUTebol, and the French or Spanish word for "indoor", SALon or SALa.

The game is frequently referred to as Five-A-Side. Once Ceriani got the ball rolling, Futsal gained rapid popularity throughout South America, particularly in Brazil. The skill developed in this game is visible in the world-famous style the Brazilians display outdoors on the full-sized field. Pele, Ronaldinho, Robinho, Bebeto and other Brazilian superstars developed their skill playing Futsal. While Brazil continues to be the Futsal hub of the world, the game is now played all over the world, from Europe to North and Central America and the Caribbean, South America, Africa, and Asia and Oceania.

The first international competition took place in 1965, when Paraguay won the first South American Cup. Six more South American Cups were held through 1979, with Brazil winning all of them. Brazil continued its dominance with a victory in the first Pan American Cup in 1980 and won it again the next time it was played in 1984. A U.S. team took part in the 1984 cup, but finished out of the running.

The first Futsal World Championship was held in Sao Paulo, Brazil, in 1982, with Brazil finishing in first place. The Brazilians repeated as champions at the second World Championship in 1985 in Spain, but lost in the third World Championship in 1988 in Australia to Paraguay.

In 1991 the Subsequent World Championships have been held in: 1991 - Italy 1994 - Argentina 1997 - Mexico 2000 - Bolivia 2002 - Paraguay

The first Youth Under 12 World Futsal Championship took place in Quito, Ecuador in 2003, with 16 countries participating. The second Youth Under 12 World Futsal Championship was also held in Quito, Ecuador in 2004.

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Toronto Central Futsal League: 4th Annual Futsal Tournament - 2008/2009 (Toronto)

Futsal has it's origins in the South American countries of Uruguay and Brazil where, in the 1930's, two versions of small sided football were being played in the cities or Montevideo and Sao Paulo respectively. In Montevideo, Uruguay, Juan Carlos Ceriani devised a five-a-side version of soccer for youth competition in YMCAs. In Brazil, a version becan to develop on the streets of Sao Paulo. This lead to the publishing of the first rules of the game in 1936 from the country that would soon become the masters of the game.

The game is played on basketball-sized courts, both indoors and out without the use of sidewalls. The term FUTSAL is the international term used for the game. It is derived from the Spanish or Portuguese word for "soccer", FUTbol or FUTebol, and the French or Spanish root word for "indoor" or "room", SALon or Salle or SALa. Taken literally, FUTbol means 'foot and ball' (i.e. playing outdoors) and Futsal indicates 'FUTbol in room' (i.e. playing indoors).

The sport began to spread from the South American continent and with it’s growing popularity came the need for a governing body and a World Championships. The International Federation for Futebol de Sala, FIFUSA, was officially founded in Brazil in 1971 and the first FIFUSA world championships were held in Sao Paulo with the hosts taking first place ahead of Paraguay and Uruguay. The Brazilians fielded stars from their 11-aside game that had been brought up playing the sport with amongst others Pele, Rivelino, Falcao and Zico demonstrating their skills as Futsal players.

The first Futsal World Championship was held in Sao Paulo, Brazil, in 1982, with Brazil finishing in first place. The Brazilians repeated as champions at the second World Championship in 1985 in Spain, but lost in the third World Championship in 1988 in Australia to Paraguay. FIFA took over direct sponsorship of the event in 1989 in Holland and 1992 in Hong Kong.

Under FIFA’s control new rules were introduced aimed at improving the technical and aspects of the game for players and spectators alike. The ball was made slightly larger (increased to a size 4) but still weighted to reduce bounce, the linesmen were replaced with the second referee and unlimited substitutions were introduced.

FIFA’s relationships with its member associations enabled more and more countries to gain access to futsal knowledge and resources. In recent years, Canadian Futsal teams and leagues have begun to grow in numbers. Now, TCFL has joined in this movement, pushing forward this amazing form of play.

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What is Futsal? | Futsal4all - Futsal in Australia and New Zealand

Futsal is a format of five-a-side football that is played extensively throughout the world. The term ‘Futsal’ is an abbreviation of the Portuguese ‘futebol de salão’ or the Spanish ‘futbol sala’, both of which translated literally mean ‘indoor football’.It is played on a pitch approximately the size of a basketball or netball court with a ball which is smaller and heavier than the outdoor football and has a reduced bounce.

The ball forces a player to use their skill rather than the ball’s bounce to propel it. As a small sided game, players are constantly placed in situations where they must receive or play whilst under pressure or in confined spaces.

The UEFA Graphical Guide to the Game

Playing Futsal allows you to touch the ball nearly twelve times more than playing football. The game places considerable demand on technique, movement, tactical awareness and fitness. Futsal is a great skill developer, demanding quick reflexes, fast thinking, and pinpoint passing. The speed of play is such that you are forced to make quicker technical and tactical decisions.

Futsal Comparison

Traditional 5-a-Side Futsal Eleven-a-Side

Five players on court - limited substitutions. Five players on court - rolling substitutions Eleven players on pitch - maximum three substitutions

No By or End lines - use rebound boards. Ball constantly in play. Played to lines. Ball is returned to play with a kick-in. Played to lines. Ball returned to play with a throw-in.

Use of indoor or Astroturf pitch. Use of wider and longer indoor pitch. Use of outside grass pitch.

Only Goalkeepers permitted to enter penalty area. All players allowed to enter the penalty area. All players allowed to enter the penalty area.

Use of restriction to the height of the ball. No height restriction on ball. No height restriction on ball.

Use of rectangular goals. Use of football size 5 for adults. Use of square goals (3m by 2m) Use of size 4 Futsal ball (30% reduced bounce) Use of rectangular full-size goals. Use of football size 5 for adults.

Unlimited fouls. Five foul limit. No wall for direct free kick from 10m after fifth foul. Unlimited fouls.

The Laws of the Game

Here are the latest Laws of the Game (Fifa.com). It includes all the correct dimensions and markings for play fields. FIFA’s Futsal Questions and Answers PDF can be found here.

Origin of the sport

Futsal is the abbreviation of the phrase Futebol de Salao (Portuguese) or Futbol Sala (Spanish). It means soccer in a large room. The name Futsal was adopted officially in 1989 as part of the FIFA’s marketing strategy to promote the game throughout the world and develop the sport.

Different forms of indoor soccer have been recorded as early as 1831 in Canada when people playing soccer were forced to play inside due to either rain or cold. The origin of modern Futsal has two versions. One version claims that the first rules book was written in 1933 by a coach from Uruguay named Juan Carlos Ceriari. The second version says that the sport was first played socially by a group of friends from Sao Paulo at the end of 1930 and the first rules book was published in 1936 in a physical education magazine from Brazil (Fonseca, 1997). Apart from the controversy of the origin of the sport, it is known that the sport was developed in Brazil and then spread to the 7 continents.

Evolution of the rules

The Futsal rules have been modified several times. The number of players have changed from 7 to 5, the goal size form 4m x 2m to 3m x 2m and the weight of the ball reached almost 1 kg before coming to 390 to 430 grams. Players were not allowed to score from inside the penalty area. This rule was changed in 1990 when the offside rule was abolished as well.

In 1971 the Federacao International de Salao (FIFUSA) was created. FIFA has unsuccessfully tried to take over the sport, thus creating “5 a side soccer” to fight FIFUSA. Finally in 1989 most of the countries agreed to combine the sports and it was given the name Futsal to represent all indoor soccer and five-a-side foolball games. Since then, there has been acceleration on the modifications of the rules due to FIFA’s policy to make the rules universal. In 1994 the throw in was replaced by the kick in, the penalty area changed from 4 to 6 metres and the keepers were allowed to play outside the “D”. FIFA aimed to make the sport exciting for players and supporters and they were extremely successful in their task.

Futsal and soccer

As the Futsal ball has low bounce qualities it spends much more time on the floor which is excellent for development of skills and ball control. The smaller area in which the game is played demands quick decision making, movements off the ball and intensity.

Because of these characteristics, soccer coaches are starting to run Futsal sessions for juniors and even professional soccer teams. Famouse professional soccer players like Ronaldo, Juninho, Maradona, Rivelino and even the great Pele have already declared they played Futsal in their childhood.

Compared to soccer, Futsal demands more versatile players. The positions in Futsal are goalkeeper, pivot (the main defender), right flank, left flank and target (the main attacker). Despite the main role of each position, players have to perform different roles in a game because of the quick transition between attack and defense.

Futsal in as sport in its own right and if we compare it with other sports we will realize that its practice is really safe because slide tackling is not allowed. As these is limited player in the air, which causes jumping and bounding, there is less stress on the knees and ankles.

Futsal in the world

Nowadays Futsal is a sporty played in more than 60 countries with professional leagues being played in many countries including Brazil, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Belgium, USA and Russia. FIFA has organized four world cups: Holand/1989, Hong Kong/1992, Spain/1996 and Guatemala/2000.

FIFA has been injecting a lot of effort to develop Futsal around the world. As Futsal is such a dynamic sport, the directors of this powerful organization preview a huge popularity for the sport. They are dedicating special attention to legitimize it as an Olympic Sport.

Futsal in Australia

In Australia, indoor soccer was introduced by Mrs. Dawn Gilligan in 1971, during a particularly wet winter when outdoor grounds were closed for long periods of time. The Revesby YMCA in Sydney was the first place where it was played and from there it spread to the others YMCA’s.

In 1977 the Australian Indoor Soccer Association was created. In 1979 they affliated with FIFUSA and started to play with the official rules of futbol sala, one of the original forms of Futsal.

The peak of indoor soccer in Australia occurred in the 80s with a televised National League and the 1988 FIFUSA World Cup in Melbourne. When in 1989 FIFA took over the sport and baptized it as Futsal, the Australian Indoor Soccer Association changed its name to Australian Futsal Association.

Australia was one of the few countries in the world that had participated in all of the world cups (not in the 2008 World cup) and it is estimated to have 18,000 registered players and 120,000 social participants in Futsal competitions all over the country.