Courtesy: the FPL

FPL Scotland - Serie A 'National Finals' - All set for an explosive finale

Prelim league matches in the inaugural Tennents FPL Scotland concluded at Bells Sports Centre in Perth last weekend with Edinburgh United grabbing the last play-off place for National Finals weekend. Edinburgh’s win against Perth North Muirton secured fourth spot as Glasgow Maccabi failed to defeat second placed Glasgow City.

The top four sides will now meet again in FPL Serie A, National Finals weekend at Bells SC – “The Home of Scottish Futsal” – to play for the title of Scottish Champions and a place in the UEFA Futsal Cup; a first for any Scottish team.

FC Santos, from Perth top the League after the first stage matches with an unbeaten record, building success on the meanest defence in the competition thanks to great performances from goalkeepers Paul Williams and Gordon McGillvery who share the job, and skipper Grant McGregor who has been in imperious form.

Glasgow City, who occupy the second position having lost only once, have secured their place thanks to the most effective firing line in the League, with 86 goals in their 7 matches (an average of over 12 a game!) with Benburb striker David Craig and League top goal scorer Lee Watt bagging almost half of those between them. Watt has epitomised the game of futsal with his rampaging runs from his defensive duties displaying an all round ability vital to successful teams.

Despite their last day defeat, Perth North Muirton showed enough to suggest they could well push the top two all the way in the chase for the UEFA Futsal Cup place but there will be a real desire to have Holt, Kelly and Carle available for the Finals weekend. With these three players missing, skipper Steve Grant found the shortage of numbers a struggle and the Perth side will need their full compliment if they are to mount a serious challenge.

Edinburgh recovered from a shock defeat to Glasgow Maccabi in the last round of games to record their come-from-behind win against Muirton. Trailing 4-2 at the break, team player manager Scott Mackain rung the changes tactically with great success and Edinburgh ran out comfortable winners. Youngster Martin McDonald played with great maturity and Evan McDonald demonstrated a full range of finishing talents.

The bottom four teams from the League will go into the Challenge Cup group. All of the sides involved in the Challenge Cup have been involved in their first ever futsal competition so it is perhaps no surprise that they have found the going tough.

Glasgow Maccabi only began playing futsal at the start of 2006 in preparation for the 2007 European Maccabi Games in Rome, and it says much for their efforts that they finished in fifth. Skipper Danny Kersh has lead from the front and Gary Barnett has netted the all important goals for the Maccabi lads, but again Manager Johnny Sellyn will be looking to have his full compliment of players available after holiday commitments this week.

Teams representing Aberdeen, Inverness and Dundee all suffered mixed fortunes, although the Aberdeen representatives Glendale provided a great young side with a real future in the sport. They should be looking to secure top slot in the forthcoming FPL Aberdeen and entry into the 2007 national League.

the planned FPL Dundee and FPL Inverness Serie B leagues should enable these teams to develop further and perhaps mount a serious challenge in the forthcoming seasons.

National Finals Weekend

The culmination of the Summers exertions takes place in Bells Sports Centre, Perth on the 19th and 20th August where Fair City Santos, Glasgow City, Perth North Muirton and Edinburgh will do battle for the title of Scottish National Champions and entry to the UEFA Futsal Cup.Entry to the games is free and a good turnout is expected with the matches attracting media coverage from across the country.

Futsal Premier League staff are expecting some excellent games. Tournament organiser Mark Potter explains, “The teams have all improved dramatically over the summer months and with the knowledge gained from playing each other already it’s expected that the games will be more tactical than before. “There won’t however, be a shortage of goals. There were over 300 goals scored in the 28 league games, averaging a bit more than 10 a game, so it’s sure to be an exciting series.“With the teams competing against their closest rivals the games will undoubtedly be fast and furious and this should provide a terrific spectacle for visitors.”

Tournament Referee Kenny Barclay has also been impressed with the standard and improvements made by the teams. “Teams have grasped the Futsal concept extremely quickly. They understand that there’s more to the game than tactics and the Laws. There’s a friendlier spirit between the teams. Yes everyone is desperate to win but the ethics of good sportsmanship are just as important and the games have been pretty straightforward to referee”, explained Barclay.

The Finals weekend will see the top four teams play each other in a mini league format similar to that of the UEFA Futsal Cup with the format for the Challenge Cup competition for the four lower teams still to be decided.

UEFA Futsal Cup

The winners from the Tennents FPL Scotland will become the first team in Scottish Futsal history to be entered into Europe’s premier Club competition, the UEFA Futsal Cup.

Entry for the Scottish Champions will be at the preliminary group stages, but competition at this level will nonetheless be extremely tough. The Scottish representatives will be faced with stern challenges against Adana Yerevan from Armenia, Futsal Mad Max from Finland and Roubaix Futsal from France. All of these teams have competed in the UEFA Futsal Cup previously, with Adana having progressed to the main group stages in recent years.

The quality of futsal in Eastern Europe, and in particular the former Russian states, is on a much higher level to that played in Scotland so the Scottish Champions opening fixture against Adana looks like a tough baptism.

Finns Futsal Mad Max are regular participants in the UEFA Futsal Cup thanks to huge success in the Finland National League and Roubaix Futsal are in their second consecutive preliminary draw. The French Champions made a number of changes to their squad following an unsuccessful UEFA campaign last season and now consider themselves to be better equipped for the event.

None of the Scottish sides competing in the FPL Scotland have played at this level before so any positive result would be seen as a massive boost for the game.The success of the Scottish entry will not be gauged on success on the court but by the impact the involvement in the event has on the number of participants across the country in the future.

Futsal is the fastest growing sport in the world and Scotland has made huge progress this year thanks to the funding of Tennents which has allowed the FPL Scotland to take place with a minimum of expense to the teams. Further success and more players are expected in coming seasons as the UEFA Futsal Cup becomes a regular fixture on the Futsal calendar, and attracts more teams hoping to become the Country’s national representatives.



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