Interview introduction by our cypriot collaborator Yiannis Vakis

Futsal In Cyprus is very popular. Despite the lack of promotion there are currently 30 teams competing in the national league and a very respectable national team under the supervision of the talented and promising head coach Petros Constantinou.

Read his interview published on the English Magazine Futsal Fever and learn a great deal about Cyprus Futsal!


Interview with Petros Constantinou, by Futsal Fever

Into the Futsal World
I first got to know about futsal back in 1994 when i began my studies as a mathematician at the University of Cyprus.
At that time it was so difficult for young people to persue a football carrer (no professionalism) so i had to move on with my studies. The students’ futsal league was the first ever that took place in Cyprus. Playing futsal was so exciting, I considered
it to be much more challenging than football - high level technical skills required, limited space and time to react requiring advanced tactical knowledge - so it provided the perfect challenge for me. This way I decided to focus hundred 100% to it.

In 1996 we took part in the World Student’s Championship in Finland getting the opportunity to play at high level international competition.
The Cyprus Futsal League and the national team were established in 1999. Guided by my devotion to futsal, I persued a masters degree in Sports Management (at an English university - Leicester) with a dissertation for its Strategic Development in Cyprus. With the assistance of the Cyprus Football Association the plan has been put to effect since 2005. I began my coaching carrer in 2005 and luckilly in 2006 I was appointed as the national team coach.
At this point it is really important to point out that, the most difficult job was made at the beginning years of the national team while we suffered our heavy defeats on international level. It is a quite unavoidable stage in order to get the experience of top international competition and manage to present a good level team at a later stage. All credit should go to my first coach of the national
team Sofoullis Stylianou who managed to persuade the association to create the futsal team and took the really difficult mission.

CFA
The Cyprus Association is trying its best to support the sport and promote it in our country. I can say that currently it might be number two in popularity after football. The Futsal Committee under the presidency of George Michanicos has been doing an excellent job the past four years during which we have made important steps in the development of our league. Last year we had the FIFA coaching seminar conducted by Mico Martic, that really gave the tools needed for coaches to really improve their players and teams. It is also important to say that we are lucky to have a group of clubs that have been doing a very good job in order to work on a professional basis despite the limited financial resources.

Future
Currently we have five players under the age of twenty that have been members of the national team for the past two years and I can definetely say that we have nothing to worry about the future of the national team. We are lucky to have some clubs who have currently produced a number of very good futsal players under the age of ninteen as well. We intend to have a national team playing at least at the same level that is currently performing. It is very difficult to do this because all nations are working very hard to develop themselves and we need to consider this very seriously. We are a small country and it is always very difficult to win any opposition, we have to be really careful in the future and present a team that is keeping its tactical display updated continuously.

The dream
I wish that futsal someday becomes an Olympic Sport - a key point in my opinion in terms of finance that will allow it to grow and become popular even more. I am certain that some day, futsal will become as popular as football. Accidentally or whatever, its nature as a hybrid of football, basketball, handball or even waterpolo, it makes it very spectacular and it is inevitable that it will be a major success internationally.





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