Courtesy: FIFA.com


Austria hosts Europe's biggest youth tournament

(FIFA.com) 17 Jan 2006

The Lindfeld Hall in Judenburg in the Austrian province of Styria was the scene for an 11-day festival of futsal between 27 December and 8 January. Thirty-four clubs from the Upper Murtal region sent out 129 teams spanning twelve age groups from U-7 up to U-19 to contest the Upper Styrian championship and battle for places in the provincial Futsal Cup. Some 1,350 kids and youths provided 83 hours' worth of action in 401 matches.
FIFA.com found organiser Franz Stelzer in jubilant mood. "The tournament has grown into a major event for our region. We've been doing it for a while now, as part of the provincial indoor championships. We switched from conventional indoor football with rebound walls to futsal three years ago, and more and more teams have taken part each year."

The vast number of entrants meant the tournaments from U-11 up to U-16 ran over into a second day before reaching final showdowns. The U-10 event even featured an all-girls team, the Scheiflinger Ballerinas. As it turned out, the Ballerinas failed to find the target, but Stelzer was nonetheless delighted to see them.

The tournament proved a hit with the local public. A total of nearly 3,000 spectators included a crowd of 400 packed into the hall for the finals. Teams were asking to enter the event even while it was in progress, evidence of growing interest in the sport. There was also room for the youngest starlets of them all as four teams battled for U-7 honours. However, the ball did appear a trifle heavy for some of the little ones.

The event is deliberately scheduled for the period around Christmas and New Year. "I knew what I was doing when I chose the date. It makes the winter break feel a little shorter, and the kids are out of school," Stelzer observed.

Stamina a prerequisite for all

Tournament organiser Stelzer now ranks as a veteran in the job. "It's developed this way over the years. I'm head of the district youth section of the provincial association, and I've organised lots of tournaments in the past. I particularly enjoy working with children." Stamina is a prerequisite, and not just for the players, as the fans and Stelzer himself need to be in good shape. "I didn't miss a single match across the full 11 days, so it was pretty demanding. But I look forward to the tournament every year."

Despite the intense schedule, the spectacle was an organisational tour de force. "We rigorously stuck to the timing plan every day."

Stelzer believes futsal offers clear advantages compared to conventional indoor football, as he reckons the traditional variant depends far too much on pure good fortune. "The team which plays the best football ends up winning in futsal, and not simply the physically stronger team. Diminutive players have a far better chance against the bigger players." The official is hoping Austria's biggest clubs can be persuaded to switch to futsal in the future.

The fans were certainly served up a treat with a total of 1,428 goals, at an average of 3.5 per game. A handful of professional footballers called by to sample the action, including Sturm Graz stars Jürgen and Gerald Säumel, and former Austria Salzburg, Werder Bremen and Rapid Vienna schemer Heimo Pfeifenberger, nowadays head of the youth section in Salzburg.

Stelzer is already looking forward to next year's event. "We'll have at least as many teams. The clubs are slowly but surely starting to enter more than one team, so all their players get a chance to appear."



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