Courtesy: Women Football

History of Russian Women Futsal

In the former Soviet Union the first futsal competitions among female teams started being conducted in the end of 1980 – the beginning of 1990. They were conducted in the period of dead seasons for Football (11-a-side). The biggest futsal competition in the winter season was the international tournament for the prize of “Trade Newpaper”, where teams from the Soviet republics and Bulgaria participated.
In Russia the Christmas Tournament (1992), conducted in the Moscow Institute of Culture, can be viewed as one of the first competitions on futsal. Due to “patriarchal” organizational specifics of the national football, the organization of futsal competitions is fulfilled by the independent Association of Futsal in Russia, which was formed by the greatest futsal enthusiast Anastasia Gorban in May 1991/1992.
The first Russian champion of 1993 was “Baltika” from Saint-Petersburg, with “Tanais” from Voronezh being second and “Gloria” (Khimki) from the Moscow Institute of Culture coming third.
The first Cup of Russia in august 1993 was won by “Concur-Junior” (Volgograd). The team from Volga (“Concur-Junior”, “Locomotive”, “Pokada”) was the strongest team in Russia during many years. The club is of Yury Kukanov – the Russian champion – 1994, 1995 and 1998-2003, the owner of Cup of Russia of 1993, 1999, 2001, 2002. Among Volgograd sportswomen mega-star of the Russian futsal Pavlina Borodina played together with other famous players such as Elena Churumova, Tatiana Ivanitskaya, Julia Litvinova. During the 1990 years such clubs as “Aurora” (Saint-Petersburg, the winner of Cup of Russia 1995, 1996, 1998, 2000) and “Snezhana” (Ljubertcy, the champion of Russia 1996, 1997, and the winner of Cup of Russia 1997, 2006) were competing with Volga team. In total, in the 1990 years in Russia there were about 25 women futsal clubs (15 clubs from them were constantly playing in the internally Russian competitions).
In 1994 the Russian futsal team played the first demonstrative matches with the Byelorussian “Minchanka” within the unofficial program of the Goodwill Games in Saint-Petersburg. The first official matches were played in November 1997 in Elche with the following results: Portugal 3:2, Spain 2:6, Ukraine 2:3. In December 1998 in Segovia the Russian team played in a draw with the Spanish team 3:3 and lost to Portugal 0:4. In January 1999 the international tournament took place in Moscow. The Russian team has beaten the youth Byelorussian team, consisted of Minsk “Edel” players (15:0) and again has played in draw with the Spanish team (1:1). In spring 2000-ãî In Nazar (Portugal) the international tournament “Teka” was conducted. The Russians, being guided by their coach Yury Kukanov, have lost to Spain (2:5) and Portugal (1:3). It is worthy of note, that due to several reasons the Russian team has been never playing in its full and optimal staff. Futsal teams have met with Ukrainian, Australian, Scottish teams.
Incompetent politics of the Russian Futsal Association and absence of an official international calendar resulted in the situation when at first the “Aurora” from Saint-Petersburg and then the “Rokada” from Volgograd left for FIFUSA. UEFS (The European Futsal Federation) conducts annually the Cups of European Champions and UEFS Cups among female teams, where 3-4 clubs from CIS countries (Russia, Ukraine, Belorussia) and Spain participate.
In April 2004 Russian futsal team left for Portugal, where it lost, playing in its very incomplete and imperfect staff and practically without a coach, to the Portugal team (0:17) and the Spanish team (0:16). This apotheosis of stupidity of Anastasia Gorban reminded of the performance of the Russian football team in the Olympic Games 1912 in Stockholm, where the Russians lost to the German team 0:16.
At present at the internal scene the team of Moscow school “Chertanovo” is dominating. It is the Russian champion 2003/04 and 2004/05, the Cup winner 2003, 2005. “Chertanovo” is trained by Nikolay Sevostianov, the first coach of Ilya Samokhin, “Dina” goalkeeper, champion of Europe 1999. In the Russian championship only 7 teams are currently playing, though there are female clubs in Saratov, Kaliningrad, Ufa, Nizhnevartovsk, Tyumen, Norilsk, Chelyabinsk. However, absence of any staff of the Russian Futsal Association, poor regional interconnections, lack of up-to-date management hamper the Russian futsal growth. Absence of any international contacts seems to be an undisputable obstacle in the way of the further reforms. One needs to hope that the new management of Russian Football Union at the head of Vitaly Mutko will pay attention to the futsal in Russia.





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