Chinese-Taipei 2004

Very few discussions or comments around Futsal should not spin around what year 2004 brings to our sport: our Futsal World Championship. Since November 22nd till December 12th, the Futsal family will gather around the only FIFA Futsal competition this year to be held in Chinese-Taipei.

First of all, and before we go into a deeper analysis of this competition, we should all praise the interest of the Chinese-Taipei Football Association. Its President, Hon. Shih Cheng HUANG, and its General Secretary, Hon. Chan Wei CHANG, proved that Futsal finds its home anywhere and that Futsal will grow and blossom in Chinese-Taipei as well.

FIFA had never seen a bidding process with seven countries starting the Futsal race. Australia, Bahrain, Chinese-Taipei, Egypt, IR of Iran, Paraguay and Thailand spoke up their minds on their great interest for Futsal. At the end, it came up to the IR of Iran and Chinese-Taipei. Again, as it had happened four years before, a newly arrived country to the international Futsal family was entrusted with such privilege as the organisation of the FIFA Futsal World Championship.

At this point, we certainly should establish which the goals for this coming World Championship are and what we all can do to achieve them. Let’s see some possibilities:

Our most immediate goal should consist in making sure that this World Championship becomes the excuse to fully bring Chinese-Taipei in to the Futsal community and that their population and fans will not only start playing Futsal but will also attend the competition late this year. That requires a relevant effort from the institutions and neighbour countries in order to support the implementation of educational and competitions exchange programmes. In this sense, Japan portraits today such leading role. It is more important than ever that Japan FA assist Chinese-Taipei and its technical Director, Mr. Damien Knabben, with the organisation of local competitions and coaching exchange activities. Chinese-Taipei would definitely enjoy Japanese clubs and national teams visiting this island in order to share its impressive improvement in the last two years. Your respective Governments have a golden opportunity to foster such links between both countries. Taking Japanese Futsal to the local television stations may also become a key turning factor in the evolution of Futsal in Chinese-Taipei.

All East and South East Asia should be invited to visit and stay in Chinese-Taipei. This World Championship becomes the best teaching experience for so many official and also anonymous coaches, referees, players and administrators. They deserve to have the chance to analyse the games in cooperation with the best experts in the World. They deserve to receive the most updated information on this sport from the best coaches and referees in the World. “Chinese-Taipei, November 22 – December 12, 2004” is the genuine opportunity to discuss and exchange Futsal. Chinese-Taipei has to open itself to welcome a massive debate around Futsal. Chinese-Taipei is the chance for all East, South East and rest of Asia to jump into the Futsal train, into the Futsal highway, into the future of Futsal. We need all of you in Chinese-Taipei. Futsal needs the CTFA and the local authorities to organise the most participative and popular ever Futsal international event where thousands of Asian fans join and meet the local and international Futsal community and family.

This coming edition of the Futsal World Championship has another huge challenge: to take this competition all over the world through television and Internet. Futsal fans deserve massive and universal exposure but not everybody can afford travelling from far away. Therefore, we all have the responsibility and duty to make sure that we aim our television and media efforts into gaining audience. Income will arrive. Yes, it will certainly arrive, but only once we have put the seeds on fertile soil and such fertile soil has no other name but audience. Such is also the advantage of taking this World Championship to Internet, the only universal forum where every single Futsal fan can debate, where we can all receive the technical analyses of our coaching and refereeing experts, where we can all learn “to read” a game, where we can all learn how the greatest coaches handle their own teams and game situations, where our best futsal referees show the art of applying the laws of the game and deal with players’ attitudes and behaviour.

These are the challenges, roughly described, of our nest Futsal World Championship. I certainly wish to meet you all there but overall, to make sure that we all keep in touch through the different means that technology provides us with. The universe of Futsal is just opening. Imagine how far we can take this sport. Just imagine ….

Víctor Beceiro
FIFA
Futsal and Beach Soccer