GEMS FUTSAL GOLDEN SHOE 2002/2003

Dear Futsal friends,

We are pleased to inform you that, during the last week of June (27/6/2003), www.futsalplanet.com will be announcing the winner of the 1st GEMS Futsal Golden Shoe for futsal players for the current season 2002/2003, once the futsal league championship season has come to a close in all European futsal-playing countries.

As you will see, then, futsal will now be joining 11-a-side football in honouring the best goalscorer of all the European national league championships played under UEFA’s auspices.

Using a similar procedure to that applied for 11-a-side football to determine the Golden Shoe ranking compiled by ESM (European Sports Magazine), consideration will given to the degree of difficulty of playing in the various leagues. Consequently, the different leagues have been assigned coefficients, taking into account as well the number of matches that have to be played over a normal season, excluding play-off or “play-out” matches.

Once the three different levels have been determined (A, B and C) and the six coefficients assigned to these (Level A: 2.0 and 1.8; Level B: 1.6 and 1.4; Level C: 1.2 and 1.0), the final ranking list is calculated by multiplying the total number of goals a player has scored by the coefficient assigned to the league championship in which he is playing. The coefficient for each level (e.g. 2.0 or 1.8 for level A) is determined on the basis of the number of matches played during the normal season.

The names of the top five goalscorers for each league championship registered in the Golden Shoe competition will be listed.

The decision to use six coefficients for this futsal ranking, rather than the three that are used for the ESM ranking, stems from the fact that there are greater differences between the various European futsal leagues as far as the number of matches that have to be played over a season is concerned. The results will also serve to highlight that many countries with a strong tradition of 11-a-side football are still novices in the world of futsal. The countries are assigned to the different classification levels solely on the basis of the standard they have achieved in European futsal.

Yours faithfully,

The Management Team of www.futsalplanet.com