Courtesy: The FA

Summer tournament

Tuesday, 31 January 2006

The Sheffield & Hallamshire County FA are hosting an International Futsal tournament on behalf of The FA this summer between 28 May and 1 June.

England, Belgium, Belarus and Cyprus will compete at the tournament which will be held at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield - fast becoming established as the best venue in the country for staging Futsal matches.

"Sheffield is a great city and a perfect venue to stage this international tournament," said England Futsal coach Graeme Dell.

"Futsal is well supported and the County FA and its partners are working hard at developing the game and helping to raise the standards of players, coaches and referees. I’m looking forward to bringing the England Futsal team to this tournament as I know the people of South Yorkshire will give us tremendous support."

Graeme recently named his 14 man squad for home internationals versus Finland and included John Atkinson, who despite being totally deaf has become well suited to this fast moving indoor game.

John was a key player in the Doncaster College for the Deaf team who won the FA National Futsal finals in July. Winning the Nationals automatically gained The Doncaster College for the Deaf a place in the UEFA Futsal Cup, becoming the first disability team to ever qualify for the competition.

James Hope-Gill, the Chief Executive of the County FA, said: "As a County we are heavily involved in the development and promotion of Futsal. Our Futsal school and club programme was recently recognised by The FA as the best in the Country.

"As hosts, on behalf of the FA we stage the annual National Futsal Championships, we are delighted to be asked to stage an international Futsal tournament and welcome the England Futsal team to Sheffield. This four nations tournament will go even further to raising the profile of Futsal in our region."



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