Fair City Santos are currently the most successful Futsal Club in Scotland, are the reigning Futsal Premier League Scotland Champions and the first side to qualify for the UEFA Futsal Cup, becoming Scotland’s first ever representative in Europe’s elite club futsal tournament.

FC Santos is also one of the most successful sides in the FPL Perth regional competition and are the current champions of that league following an unbeaten season.

Honours

FPL Scotland National League Winners - 2006
FPL Perth League Winners – 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006
FPL Perth Summer League winners – 2000, 2001, 2003
Winter League Cup winners – 2001, 2003
Christmas Cup Winners – 2001, 2002

7 players from FC Santos have represented the Scottish Amateur Football Association at international level in the Masita Cup competition in Dublin in 2002.

Manager Mark Potter has played and coached the SAFA representative side and is currently an SFA/UEFA B Licence holder.


History

FC Santos were formed officially in 2000, although all the players signed at that time were involved with Futsal with other clubs following the introduction of futsal to Perth in 1997. Many of the Santos players were pioneers of Futsal in Scotland thanks to the involvement of a Perth select team in the Commonwealth Club Championships in Burnley in ’97 and each made a commitment to put together a side to play in the inaugural Perth league. Following a couple of years of development many of the players rejoined the same side and FC Santos was created. Players Potter, Alan Cameron and Matthew Brand are the three remaining members of the inaugural Club squad still involved from 1997. Of the remaining 14, 7 joined in 2000 with the creation of FC Santos, and since then new players have been introduced annually. Current Club Captain Grant McGregor was one of two youth players brought in 2003 and it says much for his development that he now holds that position.

Since then Santos have endeavoured to bring through top young players to compliment the existing senior players in order to sustain a regular challenge for honours in both the regional and now national league structures. Many of the Santos players involved now were under 18 when they took up the game so the side still has a young average age and is, therefore, still developing, but the desire to continue to develop top young Futsal players is maintained.

As these players continue to develop alongside the senior players there is the potential for FC Santos to continue the success of recent seasons.

It is this mix of youth and experience which has served the Club so well. The experience gained by the players from tournaments in Belgium and Spain in particular, where the team were introduced to the eastern European style of play has also enabled the club to continue to improve. Club Manager Potter has also studied with top Spanish coach Javier Venancio Lopez (Caja Segovia – former World Club Champions) and Igor Kuznechenkov, this years Coach of the Year in the Premier League of St Petersburg in Russia. Santos are unlikely to reach the dizzy heights of either of these individuals, but the desire to improve has meant the players learning the different styles of the southern European and Russian futsal cultures.

Within the existing squad, many of the younger players are proving themselves to be capable players at amateur level on the international stage and the UEFA Futsal Cup will provide the sternest challenge yet.


UEFA Futsal Cup Squad

Paul Williams – goalkeeper
Gordon McGillvery – goalkeeper
Stuart Simpson – goalkeeper
Grant McGregor – Captain
Matt Brand
Mark Caldow
Mark Gordon
Craig Milne
Ross Gunnion
David Hughes
Matthew Keast
Kenny Hynd
Garry Cargill
Andrew Crichton
Scott Mackain
Alan Cameron
Mark Potter – player/manager



Contact: mark@thefpl.com







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