England’s National Futsal team will host two friendly home internationals against Poland as part of the Grass Roots Football Show at the Excel Exhibition Centre in London’s Canary Wharf on 16 and 17 July.

National Coach Graeme Dell’s squad is drawn primarily from Non-League sides and includes one of last season’s FA Cup Player of the Round winners, Rob Ursell of AFC Wimbledon and Grays Athletic’s FA Trophy winner John Nutter.

Futsal is FIFA’s only sanctioned version of 5-a-side football, and there are 170 of the 204 FIFA Federations now playing Futsal.

The FA have moved to include the development of the game as part of their long term grassroots Football Development Strategy, with the belief that the playing of Futsal can assist the technical development of players.

Futsal is being introduced into schools, colleges and universities, and local leagues are being established. In 2002, 4.4 million adults played small-sided football, with over a million involved in league or cup five-a-side.

The two fixtures against Poland next Saturday and Sunday evening will be a tough test for Dell’s young Lions with Poland positioned at number 27 in the world rankings, with England currently ranked 66th.

England are still waiting for their first international victory and Dell said:

“It is a very steep learning curve for us but we are making progress. It says something about the overall standard of the international game that we in England cannot just take a group of talented non-league players, provide them with some basic training and expect them to instantly hold there own against established Futsal nations.”

Professional leagues operate in Italy, Portugal, Spain, Brazil, Russia and Japan.

Portugal currently has over 15,000 registered Futsal players, whilst in Holland there 60,000, in Brazil 190,000 and in Japan 300,000.

Romania, England’s most recent opponents were able to draw their talented team from a three-division professional national league.

The FA’s National manager for Small Sided Football, Dermot Collins sees the growth of Futsal as being of undoubted good for the National Game.

“So often when our National teams – at any level – are playing in the crunch games, a lot is spoken about the technical skills and ability of our opponents to retain possession for longer period.

“Futsal as a game can make a contribution to developing these key skills and that it why The FA is evaluating its potential impact.”

England Squad:

Eric PUDALOFF (unattached)
Mark CANHAM (Team Bath FC)
Dave BRIDGEWATER (Moor Green FC)
Matthew HANN (St Albans City FC)
Anthony ALLMAN (St Albans City FC)
Rob URSELL (AFC Wimbledon)
Alex SYKES (Bath City FC)
James HUSBAND (Tooting & Mitcham FC)
John NUTTER (Grays Athletic FC)
Glen HARRIS (Slough Town FC)
Richard FOLLETT (Moor Green FC)
Jason OSBOURNE (Stetson University USA)
Farai JACKSON (Buckley Town FC)
James ELFORD (Hastings Town FC)

Media Information:
Game one takes place on the evening of Saturday 16 July at 6.30 pm with the return starting at 4.30pm on Sunday 17 July.

Both matches promise to be exciting, skillful, well contested games, so make sure you catch the action at the end of your visit to The Grass Roots Football Show. Entry to both games is free.

The FA National Futsal Finals will be staged in Sheffield for the second year running at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield between 8-10 July 2005, involving 16 teams from across England.

There are now 26 regional leagues in England - eight more than last year – as the game takes root in England.