Manchester Futsal Club head East to take on Asia’s small-sided football elite

Manchester Futsal Club will shortly be embarking on a unique Far Eastern trip to compete in the ESPN Star 2011 Tiger Street Football Tournament in Singapore, the first of its kind to be staged in Asia.

The club have been invited by ESPN Star to be the UK’s representatives in the Singapore round of the tournament on 16-17 April and will compete alongside the best international street football teams from Brazil and Vietnam as well as local teams.
The tournament will be staged in Ngee Ann City with further tournaments taking place in other Asian countries such as Thailand, China and Vietnam. The Grand Finals will take place in Malaysia in September where there will be a prize fund of $74,000 US dollars. The tournament is also being broadcast live across ESPN Star’s TV network of 24 Asian Countries and over 310 million viewers.

The tournament will be played on a modified futsal court and will adapt some of the current FIFA Laws of Futsal in order to create a fast paced, skill friendly flow to the game. With futsal having its origins of being played on urban streets, the ESPN Star 2011Tiger Street Football Tournament will bring a modern twist to the game.
‘Competing in such a prestige tournament is great recognition and exposure for Manchester Futsal Club. We are currently top of the FA National Futsal League North and will go into this tournament full of expectation. What a unique opportunity to play in a completely new environment that will be broadcast to millions across Asia. The players and staff can’t wait until the first game! ’ commented Manchester Futsal Club General Manager Simon Wright.

The timing of the tournament comes as Manchester Futsal Club are riding high in the FA National Futsal League North but for Wright the opportunity to travel to Singapore was too good to turn down;
‘Our priority remains the FA National Futsal League North campaign.

We are fortunate to have a large squad this season and we will be leaving some key players at home so that they can focus on the Liverpool game. This is about giving the club some global exposure as well as a reward for those players that have been committed to the club since we were formed five years ago. The players will get a unique experience with all of the media attention that the tournament is going to bring with it’

Manchester will not know their group opponents until they arrive in Singapore, but are likely to come up against ADC Florianopolis from Brazil’s Liga Futsal or Thai Son Bac Futsal Club, one of Vietnam’s professional futsal clubs.

‘The challenge on the court is going to be tough, we can’t underestimate the fact that we are going to be competing against some professional and national team players. I’m sure the local teams will be a good standard as well as futsal is a real growth sport in Asia and the talent pool is much bigger than in England where the game is now starting to take off’ comment Ilya Ovechkin, one of the Manchester Futsal Club players who will be competing in Singapore.
Keep up to date with more news and updates from the ESPN Star Tiger Street Football Tournament 2011 by checking out the tournament website www.tigerstreetfootball.com.sg
Manchester Futsal will also be updating regular blog’s and pictures via the Manchester Futsal Club Facebook Fan Site and Twitter.





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