Courtesy: Daily Times


NFF to establish Futsal League

To promote the sport in Nigeria

April 29, 2012

by Olorunwa Lawal

The Nigeria Football Federation will soon establish a national Five-A-Side League, Futsal Referee Instructor, Zakowi Abraham said on Saturday.‬

‪Abraham, who spoke in Abuja after a three- day Futsal training course for referees, coaches and instructors, said that the NFF was working towards floating a Futsal League so that other teams may emerge.‬

‪According to him, participation would be “either from the geo-political zones or selected states that have halls and gymnasiums that can play the game’’.‬

‪Abraham said the enthusiasm shown by participants at the three-day training was commendable, despite the fact that the game was new to them. The coach added that the game must be taught in schools, to promote its popularity in Nigeria‬.

‪“With the rate at which we have operated these three days, we’ve had intensive training with practical and demonstrative sessions of high international standards," he said.

“The game could be replicated in the curriculum of schools where the children, during their physical education classes, will be taught the rules of the game. In every sport, we should go back to the grassroots and use schools as our basis for teaching the laws of the game. Sometimes our national teams lose matches not because we don’t have the players or because they are not skillful but because they lack the knowledge and educative aspect of the game.”‬

‪Tunde Irukeya, an instructor, said he was privileged to be part of the course because awareness about the game was still limited in Africa.‬

‪He explained that futsal was a bit different from regular football because there were more signals to use than in normal football and more concentration was required to referee the game.‬

‪“It is a very good thing the NFA has done this because from here states and clubs will start gearing up for the game,” he said.‬




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