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Germany going for Futsal

Wednesday, 5 April 2006

Germany will take a giant stride towards joining the Futsal family when the country stages its first national Futsal Cup tournament this weekend.

Eight teams
The tournament, to be played in Göttingen, has been backed by the German Football Association (DFB) and will feature eight regional champions. The only household name for football fans are Eintracht Frankfurt, although the players are wholly separate to those who represent the club in football's Bundesliga. The overall German champion will be crowned on Sunday.

'Easier for beginners'
While Futsal is strong in Spain and Italy, and on the rise in England and France, Germany is the last of the football superpowers to fully embrace the sport. However, it has a strong fan base and is gaining ground quickly in the country. "We want to establish indoor football with Futsal rules in Germany," said the DFB's Futsal coordinator Willi Hink. "The different ball makes it easier for beginners and older players, and we also like the fact that Futsal stresses fair play. Last but not least Futsal trains coordination and technical abilities."

High hopes
UEFA Futsal Committee chairman Petr Fousek has long talked about the need for the bigger nations to embrace Futsal. "In Germany we will meet with the DFB in the coming months about Futsal development," he said. "One of our aims is to have all 52 national associations from Europe competing for the UEFA European Futsal Championship in two years' time, so we are sending special Futsal ambassadors to the countries that are not in the UEFA Futsal family yet."



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