Courtesy: The AFC.com


Asians have potential to excel in Futsal

7 November 2005

KUALA LUMPUR: A new chapter was opened this morning at the PJ Hilton hotel in Kuala Lumpur as the Asian Football Confederation conducted its first Instructors’ course for Futsal, under the tutelage of Benny Meurs, a FIFA instructor from Belgium. Six participants from across Asia, with most coming from the ASEAN region have been invited to attend the five day course, comprising of both theoretical and practical sessions.

All participants had to fulfill a list of criteria, namely:

Actively involve in futsal at their national association

Possess the AFC ‘A’ certificate in coaching

English speaking

The aim of the course is to train Asian futsal coaches to become instructors so that there will be a proliferation of local coaching courses taking place across Asia. Speaking at the opening ceremony of the course, AFC General Secretary Dato Peter Velappan said, “Asians being small and agile, have the right physical qualities to be good futsal players. Our challenge now is to train and attract these players. In the past, we have always relied on foreign instructors but now, under the Vision Asia programme, we believe that the future of the Asian game lies with Asians themselves.”

Meurs was delighted at AFC’s efforts to promote the game. “By having this course, AFC is showing its seriousness in the game of Futsal. There are plenty of opportunities to develop the game in Asia.”

The six participants are:

Ali Targholizade from IR Iran (assistant coach of Iranian national futsal team)

Nasser Saleh from IR Iran (national futsal coach of 7-time Asian champion)

Balakrishnan Poothathamby from Malaysia (assistant national coach of Malaysia)

Tay Peng Kee from Singapore (Development officer for Futsal)

Bongkarn Phromphui from Thailand (former national futsal coach and current national women’s futsal coach)

Tsang Wai Chung from Hong Kong (national futsal coach of Hong Kong)



Posted by Luca Ranocchiari --> luca.ranocchiari@futsalplanet.com