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BRAZILIAN BACKING FOR SHEFFIELD EVENT

One of the world's best footballers has given his support to the beautiful game, which is heading to Sheffield this summer.

Former Brazilian international Juninho is a huge fan of FIFA's official version of five-a-side football called Futsal, after playing the game as a youngster.

Sheffield will be hosting the FA National Futsal Finals between 8 - 10 July at the state-of-the-art English Institute of Sport - Sheffield.

Futsal is a fast, skilful game and is seen by the football's governing body, FIFA, as ideal for young people to develop the perfect technique.

Juninho, currently at Celtic, has made more than 300 appearances during his professional career, which included spells at Middlesbrough, Athletico
Madrid and Sao Paulo.

He said: "I think the best way to improve your skills is to play football on a smaller pitch. There isn't much space so you need to be skilful, have good control and be able to move the ball around quickly.

"The amount of space in 11-a-side is not good for young kids, you spend too much time running around without the ball.

"In Futsal you are always involved. It's great to play 11-a-side when you're older - but it's better if you play on a small pitch first. I didn't play 11-a-side football until I was 13."

Futsal is played on a hard surface, which is slightly bigger than a
basketball court. The ball is smaller then a standard sized football and has a characteristic low bounce.

Juninho added: "It makes the ball harder to play with at first - but it's great practice for when you move to full-size football. Sometimes making things harder for yourself improves your game in the long run. That is why Brazil always produces players with great skill."