Courtesy: FAI Futsal Portal


Spain triumph good for Futsal!

Monday, 19 July 2010

SPAIN’S first ever World Cup success in South Africa this week will be broadly welcomed by the international futsal community.

While futsal has been strongly linked with Brazil in recent years, it has perhaps been less commented that Spanish football has gained much from its links to the five-a-side game.

Just as the likes of Ronaldinho, Robinho and Kaka grew up playing futsal, so have a lot of Spanish football's top stars who played the game in school as young children.

The creation of a professional futsal league in Spain in 1989 led to significant growth in the small-sided game throughout the Iberian peninsula and Futsal is now an integral part of the Spanish football culture.

Today, almost all children in the country first play a version of futsal in their schoolyards and halls long before they sample organised association football.

Spain has won two of the last three FIFA Futsal World Championships and has also claimed the UEFA Futsal Championships crown on each of the last three occasions. Their Liga Nacional de Futbol Sala is considered the top futsal league in the world.

As well as claiming their first senior football World Cup in South Africa, the Spaniards are also the reigning European Champions.

Likewise, Spain’s underage international success in football has been admired by many European countries.

The Spanish have captured four of the last ten UEFA Under-19 Championship titles and they have won more UEFA Under-17 titles (eight) than any other country. Their female teams are also considered among the best in Europe.

Derek O’Neill, FAI National Futsal Co-ordinator, is convinced that the success of Spanish national teams and their club sides in the development of young players owes much to futsal.

“The game of football is rapidly changing. It’s quicker, more tactical and the ball is in play longer. It is less about physicality and more about technique and quick decision making...precisely the qualities Futsal helps to develop.
The 2008 European Championships was a watershed for football. The elegant Spanish team demonstrated that the days of physical strength over technique have well and truly disappeared.
“When you look at the patient short-passing game Spain play and the excellent technique of all players on the team, the influence of futsal on the Spanish style is obvious,” said O’Neill.

“Their players can receive the ball with several opponents around them and still retain possession. Such confidence comes from playing in the early developmental years in confined spaces such as a futsal court provides.

“The physical stature of Spain’s top technical players such as Iniesta, Xavi, David Villa, Pedro and Fabregas is also similar to a typical futsal player.

“Many coaches working with young players get distracted by concentrating on the physical development of their players rather than working on improving their technique and competence on the ball.

“When you see the success the likes of Spain have had on the international scene and Barcelona have had in club football, it gives confidence to those coaches who are determined to put skill before size.”

Futsal is one of the fastest growing elements of the FAI’s development plan with more than 20,000 schoolchildren sampling the small-sided game last year.

The FAI Futsal department is keen to promote futsal in this country and allow more children the opportunity to play this exciting version of football.
So, with this in mind, here’s a request to all those dedicated volunteers and parents involved in kids’ football in Ireland for the season ahead:
Praise that dribble, step over or fancy footwork, encourage playing the ball out from the back and applaud that young defender striding out with the ball at his feet. Let the kids express and enjoy themselves and, if it goes wrong, keep their head up and get them to try it again. Praise all the creative things they do and above all remember, does it really matter what the score is?


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