An update on the state of the sport in Canada

by Fred Boylan

In 2003, the sport of Futsal became officially sanctioned by The
Canadian Soccer Association, and now operates under the jurisdiction of The Futsal Committee of the CSA.

All communication regarding Futsal should now be directed to that
Committee, chaired by Angus Barrett.

The Futsal Committee is made up of the Chair, who is the CSA
Director- Competitions and a member of the CSA Executive Committee,
three members of the CSA Board of Directors and three members from
the former Futsal Canada.

As a means of updating information on ongoing progress, the
following are points of interest from the most recent meeting of the
Futsal Committee.

Provincial updates
B.C., Alberta and Ontario are progressing with their individual
plans to develop the sport within their respective provinces.

Ross Ongaro, National Futsal Team Coach, has received an invitation from the Italy National Team to attend their Championships, meet with their coaches, and visit their program and training facilities in early April. The Futsal Committee has encouraged the acceptance of this invitation.

The Committee identified a need for implementation of National
Championships.
An inaugural National U-14 Championship will be held in 2007.
In preparation for 2007, Provincial U-12 and U-13 Championships will
be contested in 2005 and 2006.

During August 2005, a combined Referee and Technical Instructors
Course is planned for Vancouver, B.C. to serve the western provinces
and another planned for September to be held in Toronto, Ontario to
serve the eastern provinces. It is anticipated that the successful
candidates from these courses will provide the audience for a
similar course to be presented by FIFA staff in 2006.