FA NATIONAL YOUTH FUTSAL FESTIVAL 2010

The Football Association will once again be staging the National Youth Futsal Festival in Sheffield at the English Institute for Sport on the 3rd and 4th July 2010. This will be the fourth year that this showpiece festival in the FA Futsal calendar has been held in Sheffield, and this year will see a number of professional football club academy teams entering the festival for the first time.

The FA National Youth Futsal Festival will see 80 youth teams from across the country playing over the weekend at under 10, under 12, under 14 and under 16 age groups. These youth teams will travel from all corners of the country after winning their local county Futsal Festival, and then progressing through their Regional Festival to represent their region in the National Finals. The FA National Youth Futsal Festival celebrates both boys and girls Futsal, with the focus being on enjoyment, skill and fun.

This year will be the first occasion that leading boys and girls’ football academies will be involved in the Festival. Clubs of the calibre of Manchester United, Sunderland, Nottingham Forest and Leeds United amongst others will join local club Sheffield United in sending their under 10 boys and girls academy teams to take part. These professional clubs are not only keen to provide an enjoyable football experience for their young players, but are also interested to explore how Futsal can be integrated into their training to support the technical development of their young talent.

“The FA National Youth Futsal Festival is a wonderful occasion that brings together young people from across the country to participate in a game that they love. The atmosphere of the event is terrific and the young players really thrive at being involved in an FA national event. This year’s Festival can only be enhanced with the addition of a number of professional football club academies and it is pleasing to see that these clubs are beginning to embrace Futsal. Futsal is a game that can really play a positive role in assisting the technical development of the young players in this country.”
(Simon Walker, FA National Manager for Small Sided Football)

What is Futsal?
Futsal is FIFA and UEFAs recognised format of 5-a-side football and in recent years has been embraced by The Football Association. FIFA claim that it is the fastest growing indoor sport in the world, and is immensely popular outside of the UK. Futsal has played an important role in the technical development of some of the world’s leading football players; Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Kaka, Xavi, Ronaldinho to name just a few all played Futsal as they grew up and developed into world beaters. The FA are keen to harness the benefits of this game and introduce it to benefit the technical development of English young players. Futsal is being played widely in schools, colleges and universities across the country, and The FA has established an adult National Futsal League and an England senior men’s Futsal team that plays in European and World Cups.

Futsal is a format of 5-a-side football that is played indoors with a smaller, heavier ball. The game is played to pitch lines and hockey-sized goals, which helps to encourage improved decision making and technical skill from young players.


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