Released on behalf of The Football Association by HR Media Ltd of Sheffield.

London Futsal side win FA finals

Team USSR will be England's representative in the 2005 UEFA Futsal Cup.

The London-based side became the second ever team to win the FA National Futsal Finals, with a convincing 10 - 1 victory over Tranmere Victoria.

Sheffield's state-of-the-art English Institute of Sport held the tournament from the 18-20 June, with Sports Minister Richard Caborn presenting the winners with the prestigious national trophy.

Team USSR is made up of players from eight different countries across the Baltic region. They have only been together as a Futsal team for two months, but most of the players have played professional 11-a-side football in their respective home country.

The five-a-side outfit qualified from the North London regional league to take their place alongside 15 other teams from across England in the tournament.

Team USSR manager Oleksandr Saliy was delighted with his side's performance during the three-day event and is now looking forward to facing Europe's best Futsal clubs.

He said: "The players worked extremely hard for each other and we are very happy to win the tournament. Our strengths lie in the belief we have as a team.

"We now have a chance to play Futsal at the highest level and we will be looking to do well."

Team USSR's Alexander Vygoniails won the Man of the Tournament award and striker Ruslan Kirpikov finished joint top scorer with Tranmere's Jay Corran with 13 goals.

Santos were third and last year's champions Sheffield Hallam finished fourth.