Courtesy Uefa.com

English enthusiasm for Futsal

Tuesday, 28 October 2003

By Greg Demetriou

These are promising times for English fans of Futsal. The national side are to make their debut in the 2005 UEFA European Futsal Championship while this week sees the first staging of the Futsal England Trophy, set up by the new body hoping to promote Futsal across the country.

Prestigious company

England is one of the last major sporting nations in Europe to have fully embraced the highly technical five-a-side sport with huge support for the game already across the continent. That could all change soon as England will be one of seven nations competing in a preliminary round in early January for the right to take part in the qualifying round for the 2005 EURO. The official UEFA event has been staged on three previous occasions - Russia won in 1999, Spain in 2001 and Italy in 2003.

Positive signs

Dermot Collins, the Football Association's manager for small-sided games, is delighted England will have the opportunity to test themselves. There have already been encouraging signs after England performed well at the KL Fives event in Malaysia last June. England were defeated by Iran and Uzbekistan but improved sufficiently to narrowly lose 3-2 against Indonesia.

"We have got to hope that we can perform well" (Dermot Collins, the FA)


Testing time

"It is going to be a challenge," he said. "We have just got to hope for a relatively easy draw. We have shown that, as when we played in Malaysia, we tend to get better with every game. We have got to hope that we can perform well."

Two groups

England, and the six other sides in the preliminary round, will be divided into two groups of four and three respectively at the 13 November draw. The winner of each group, played on a mini-tournament basis from 5-11 January, will progress to the qualifying round later that month.

Foreign help

Collins said: "We are well aware we are not entering to win the competition and we will be doing our best to even qualify." The primary aim is instead to raise the profile of what is a fledgling sport in England. Foreign coaching may be brought in to help the English players while the FA is considering ways of harnessing young talent.

Leading sides

Before all of this comes the inaugural Futsal England Trophy at Cheltenham College in Gloucestershire this weekend (31 October-2 November). It will feature the top club teams from England, including reigning domestic champions Sheffield Hallam and the first English side to compete in the UEFA Futsal Cup, Tranmere Victoria FC.

Strong support

As an invitational competition, clubs from Moldova, Canada, Spain, Belgium will also take part. Collins said: "The FA is quite happy to support Futsal England. They want to raise public awareness of the game and work with the FA in regional leagues and referee and coaching workshops. They hope to use the event to drum up support."

On show

Futsal England managing director James De Pedro said the event would "provide an opportunity for the best teams from around the UK to showcase their talents against teams from all over the world".

Five-year plan

Spectators will also be able to visit a Futsal England exhibition tent providing all kinds of information. De Pedro said: "We will be working to a strategic development plan that will see Futsal established as a major sport in schools, colleges, universities and local communities over the next five years."

High hopes

De Pedro added the aim was "to bring Futsal to the masses". With such commitment at domestic and international level, Europe can have great expectations of a strong English challenge in future.