Courtesy: Business Report

Five-a-side soccer pitch owner aims to score further afield

December 21, 2006

By Tracy Alloway

London - Goals Soccer Centres, a UK owner of five-a-side soccer pitches, plans to expand in Britain and possibly elsewhere in Europe as the format gains popularity.

Futsal, the official version of small-sided soccer, was developed in Latin America and uses a smaller, heavier ball to encourage shorter passing and better control.

Goals Soccer, based in Hamilton, Scotland, will open at least five new centres next year, managing director Keith Rogers said last week.

The scaled-down format has surpassed 11-player traditional soccer in the UK, according to England's Football Association. About 2.6 million adults regularly play five-a-side soccer, compared with 1.8 million eleven-a-side players.

Goals Soccer said in September that first-half profit rose 70 percent to £1.35 million (R18 million).

"Five-a-side is much more accessible," Rogers said. "It's a way for people to get involved in their favourite sport in a recreational way." The length of a five-a-side field is less than half that of the large-format pitch.

Shares of Goals Soccer have risen 66 percent this year, outperforming the FTSE all share index and boosting its market value to £118 million.

Goals Soccer, whose main British rival is Powerleague Group, has 21 centres, all in the UK, and intends to expand into its competitor's territory in northwest England.

Construction had started on centres in west and north London and new sites were planned for Liverpool and Manchester, which were home to England's most successful soccer teams, Rogers said.

Liverpool has won English domestic league titles a record 18 times and the European Cup five times. Manchester United, the most successful English team of the past decade, has won 15 championships and two European Cup finals.

There is no rush" to move into mainland Europe, Rogers said. "But we're doing our homework for the future." Five-a- side football is most popular in southern Europe, where Spain holds the current Fifa Futsal championship.

The company used cheering sound effects in its locker rooms and floodlights on its pitches to recreate the experience of stadium soccer, Rogers said.

Fifa, soccer's world ruling body, is promoting the sport to encourage players to develop better skills and dissuade them from using long, aerial passes and a physical style of play. Ronaldo, Brazil's three-time world player of the year, played Futsal in his youth.

Powerleague, whose chairman, Claude Littner, is the former chief executive of London football club Tottenham Hotspur, has 10 centres in northwest England and 11 in London. It is the largest operator of five-a-side pitches in Britain, with 35 centres in total.

Powerleague was founded by Rogers in 1987 and sold to 3i Group in 1999 for £28 million. It sold shares in 2005.

Analysts at Altium Securities estimate Goals Soccer will have sales of £16.2 million in 2006. Altium estimates Powerleague will have sales of £20.5 million.

English soccer's Premier league is the world's richest by revenue and plans to extend its financial advantage over competitors from next season by signing new broadcasting contracts.

British Sky Broadcasting and Setanta Sports, the Irish pay-TV company, have paid £1.7 billion to screen live matches in the UK for three seasons. - Bloomberg



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