Slovak futsal progressing

by Milan Petrinec - International manager of Slovak Futsal

Just after the release of the latest world futsal ranking, where the Slovak national team appeared in the 15th spot (historically the best position ever), the wide futsal community in Slovakia was very happy. But not only the spectators and the futsal community in Slovakia were happy, also the members of the executive committee, who have been elected at the conference of the Slovak futsal in march 2009. All of them are doing their best to move the slovak futsal forward - including others who work and live for and with futsal - coaches, club owners, players, spectators, photographs, journalists, etc.

The year 2009 started off with a setback, because the national A team of Slovakia did not qualify for the European Championships 2010 in Hungary. The fact, that we missed the qualification to the championships only by one goal was even worse. However, we received kind of a helping hand from our neighbours from Hungary, because right after the return from the failed qualification in Spain, we have been invited to the Borsodi futsal cup 2009 in the beginning of april 2009. The participating teams of the tournament were hosts Hungary, Croatia, Slovakia and the main favourite Brazil. A team with the age average of 22 years, which should have indicated the way our national team would take in the future, finished in an outstanding 2nd place just behind Brazil. After losing to Brazil in the first match with 1-4, we defeated the home team 3-1 and then in our last game of the tournament, we defeated Croatia 3-0.

Our A team recorded another great success in september 2009, when we luckily won the 4 nations tournament (Visegrad 4 nations tournament) in Debrecen, Hungary. In the semi-final, we defeated Czech republic 4-3 on penalties and in the final, we defeated the hosts 2-1 also on penalties. The team showed great power and morale in playing the 2 matches just with 8 players in the field. In october, our national team faced another tough test, when we met for 2 friendly matches against Poland at home. With some fresh faces in the roster, we defeated our neighbors in both matches with 5-2 and 6-3.

The year 2009 was a specific one, because the head coach of our national A team has changed. Milan Kollar, our most known and mostly experienced coach decided to leave the team and until the end of this year, Richard Baco, former U21 national coach, took over the responsibility for the A team. Under the leadership of Richard, our national team won all of it's tests and on the 1st december, the executive committee officially named Richard Baco the new head coach of the national team.

In Slovakia, we are fully aware, that we have to work with young players in order to move forward and to be stronger in the future. Therefore, the executive committee has named Jozef Duhony as head coach of the U21 national team for the coming period. Jozef Duhony is a talented young coach who is currently coaching the club SK MIMA Trnava, that is playing in the top division in Slovakia. Mr. Duhony was already in charge of the U21 national team in September, when the slovak U21 team obtained the 3rd spot in the Visegrad 4 tournament (between the U21 teams). First, we lost to Czech republic 3-4 in the semi-final and then, in the 3rd place match, the players made a strong impression by beating Hungary 7-0.

On the field of sponsorship, Slovak futsal can happily announce, that, additionally to Optimus Agency as the main marketing partner, we have also found a strong supporter in KYMA Sport Agency, who is the official partner of the top division in Slovakia. KYMA Sport Agency is also providing full equipment to the U21 national team. This being said, we also need to say, that we also work with JOMA, which is providing equipment to the national A team.

For the chairman of Slovak Futsal, mr. Ladislav Cambal, it was of high priority to create Centers for talented young players, who should get their chance and also get the needed conditions to develop their skills and turn into quality futsal players. This project has been successful and today, we have 3 such centers up and running in the cities of Bratislava, Zilina and Kosice. All these centers have been provided equipment from the company JAKO - not only jerseys and kits for players, but also equipment for the coaches and equipment needed for the trainings.

Generally speaking, the year 2009 was a very interesting year for futsal in Slovakia. We all are happy, that the slovak futsal is finding it's way to the spectators at home and, at the same time, it is getting stronger also in the world. Still, we know very well, that this is just the start of a long journey. We think, that we have achieved nice success this year, but we want to achieve more. For this purpose, we have already scheduled a fairly busy program for our national A team and there are also plans for developing the U21 national team. Taking into consideration, that we finally have also created the centers for talented young players, we all hope and will be striving towards moving the slovak futsal even more forward then we did this year. By this, we do not only mean the position in the rankings, but mostly the quality and the beauty of the game that our national futsal teams are presenting on the pitch.



Posted by Luca Ranocchiari --> luca.ranocchiari@futsalplanet.com