Courtesy: Futsal Echo Magazine


Special thanks to Cedric Bouillon


Interview published by Futsal Echo - October 2005




Ten questions to Laurent Morel – Competitions Manager Futsal


Interview by Luca Ranocchiari – www.futsalplanet.com


What do you think about the current state of European futsal?

Futsal is growing everywhere in Europe, but at a different speed. There is a huge amount of work to be done in every area of the development, mostly in the administrative structure and the marketing. The level of the teams has reached a sufficient level to bring incomes (TV, sponsors), but efforts have to be made "around" the teams.


With refer to the previous question, in which matters futsal still has to improve? In what aspect international futsal already reached a satisfactory level?

The image of Futsal is the key element for a faster development. Historically, Futsal has always suffered from the lack of uniformity. Today, in many important european countries, nobody knows about Futsal (Germany, Turkey, France, UK), that is why communication strategies have to be created in these countries to attract people. Globally, the Futsal development in the last 5 years is really positive, new countries have developed leagues and launched a national team, and most of the coutries should join the family within ten years.


What's the UEFA priority for futsal? And above all: is futsal something basic for UEFA?

UEFA wants to harmonize the Futsal administrative structure within the Football Associations. No matter what the model is, but the Futsal federation must be affiliated to the FA. The big existing structures, years of development, disciplinary services, referees & coach education courses, the Football Associations have a long tradition and a huge expertise in the sport development. Futsal cannot avoid co-operating with this entity, or it would damage (once again) the uniformity of Futsal. Today, Futsal is part of Professional Division within UEFA, which clearly demonstrate everybody (FA and Futsal Federation) that UEFA gives a big importance to Futsal. We think that the european competitions can be further marketed and have a big potential of income, guaranteeing a bright future to the discipline.


The main futsal events run by UEFA are the European Champs and the UEFA Futsal Cup. Are you satisfied with them? What UEFA is doing, eventually, in order to improve them? For instance, the UEFA Futsal cup 2005/2006 edition has a new formula...

We are in close contact with associations & clubs. They bring us feedback and indicators. The level of both UEFA Futsal Cup & UEFA European Futsal Championship has made big progresses since their creation in 1999 and 2001. Today, the Futsal Cup Finals - and even the second qualifying round - are attracting people in the halls. This years, we are launching a new stage, with 2 semi-finals home-and-away that will certainly be very attractive.
The formats are anyway in constant evolution, as we have more and more clubs and nations taking part, and we have also more and more TV audiences, website viewers, sponsor interests, etc..which allow us the answer to the needs.


How do you consider the fact that almost all the european top leagues are "dominated" by south american players, especially brazilians? Does this means a lack of technical formation of european players? Is that worrying for the european futsal development?

Futsal was born in South America and developed in Brazil more than 50 years ago. As I always say, if Brazil is 5 times World Champions in Football, that's partly because of Futsal ! In the brazilian city suburbs, children are used to play in reduced spaces, like it is the case in Futsal. They are learning technical skills, one-vs-one, decision making, etc. much earlier than in Europe and are much more advanced technically. But Europeans could easily reach the same level. The grassroot education and school programmes would be a fruitful long-term strategy to develop the quality of the European players in Futsal. We are working on that aspect as well in UEFA.


Everybody agree on the fact that youth futsal is a basic step for our sport development. What is UEFA doing in this direction? According to the current regulation only when reaching the 51% of the FA's running an Under 21 selection, UEFA will have the chance to organize an Under 21 official competition. Are we close to this result? Wouldn't be better, just thinking to futsal development, avoiding to use this rule for futsal, trying to give an impulse to the national associations? Something like Cordoba 96 for the A teams, to start...

The development of Youth Futsal is part of the UEFA strategies. We are currently gathering information from all over Europe to have a clear picture of the youth Futsal. Then, the next step will be to determine in which direction shall we progress. The debate between an U-21 or U-19 European Championship is existing, as not all countries would be able to build an U-21 team, especially in the newcomer country, that are focusing on a long-term projects for their national team. But we hope to launch an official competition by 2008.


Which european country is working in the best way for futsal, according to your impression?

Many of them are doing well with limited budgets and few resources. A good example is definitely Romania, that has built three divisions (local, regional and national) in a very short period of time. There is also a very pro-active Futsal Committee: the national team has an exclusive sponsor and plays approx. 15 games a year, Premiership Division matches are broadcasted on the national TV, halls are full. I think this is a real "success story", and I would not be surprised if Romania would enter the top 8 best team in Europe within 2-3 years.


A forecast for the next UEFA Futsal Cup: will Action 21 revalidate its title?

With its experience of the competition, Action 21 can confirm his title of last season. But Eremenko's squad is, in my opinion, even stronger this season, Interviu Boomerang is coming back with clear ambitions after their last season. There are also strong outsiders like Shakhtar Donetsk that could create the surprise.


Futsal and mass-media: which are the main difficulties in opening the doors and have more visibility?

It is clearly the image, that refrain media - especially TV - to being more involved. For instance, in Belgium, as the competition is completely dominated for 6 years by Action 21, TV has no interest in broadcasting matches. In addition, the halls themselves are not adapted to Futsal on TV. When you have basketball, volleyball, tennis, badmington and handball markings on the same floor, the image is definitely not nice enough for the viewers. Today broadcasters need to sell an entertainment to the public, and they are requesting every details in that sense, like seeing stands full of spectators (adapted TV positions), good lighting, only Futsal markings, music, dancers, color of the pitch, statistics, big sponsors (for TV, "less is more", which means broadcasters prefer few big sponsors than many local ones), etc..Everything counts, also media facilities are often insufficient and not attractive for media. But this will also take time, as clubs are generally depending on the local authorities for the use of the halls and have to adapt themselves to the collectivity.


Olympic Games: do you believe we will manage to reach them?

That's the big question. This is of course FIFA that is dealing with the IOC for such an issue. I think the issue has made some progresses, with the insertion of Futsal at the Pan-American Games 2007 in Rio de Janeiro. These games are supervised by IOC and will probably serve to test Futsal in a big scale event. No doubt that the attendances, the level of the matches, and the TV audiences may influence the decision of IOC of taking into account Futsal in future Olympic Games. Futsal has all arguments in its favour, but is also depending on the number of slots allocated at the Games for new sports. It will certainly be tough to have Futsal at London 2012, but we will exploit every opportunity to make our beloved sport better known to the world.