Courtesy: The FA.com

Fit for Futsal

Tuesday, 27 February 2007

England Futsal Coach Graeme Dell is on a high after a training weekend at Lilleshall and has good hopes for the National Team and domestic Futsal as he explains in his latest column...

Hi everyone,

It feels great to get back on the court this week and I’m buzzing after three days at Lilleshall with the F30 Programme and the chance to have a closer look at some new players.

We don’t get much time with the players as it is but when I do their enthusiasm to learn and improve is infectious - it’s a great feeling.

It’s the first time that we’ve met up as a group since returning from the UEFA pre-qualification tournament in Romania, although we only had a select few from last year’s F30 group with us, along with 25 or so new players. We’ve been monitoring a number of lads over recent months and I wanted to have a look at them in a controlled Futsal environment.

It was a productive weekend with some physiological monitoring and a chance to watch them play in a no-pressure environment and it was good to see that the message of what I’m looking for in a player is getting out there. Fitness is key to this game and these lads had a decent level of physiological capability which was comforting to see, although that’s the result of training almost every day. We created a good mix of some full-time footballers and highly recommended Futsal players and the blend was interesting to see.

The last week has also seen the final qualification stages for the European Championships and I’m delighted to see that the commitment and effort put in by Romania has borne fruit with their qualification for Portugal on Sunday.

This will be their first appearance in the Finals and, coming less than six years after taking up Futsal internationally, shows what can be done with the right approach.

It’s also sobering in many ways, too, as it shows how difficult it was for us to qualify from our preliminary group which the Romanians hosted last month. The mere fact that they have gone from pre-qualifiers to finalists is awesome, so my congratulations go to them.

As I write, Czech Republic, Spain, Serbia and defending Champions Russia have also qualified, so there have been some surprises with Belgium and Holland both finishing third in their groups.

Most of the National Coaches in Futsal talk to each other over email regularly and some great friendships have developed. I have some friends who have qualified and some who haven’t and with that comes some very mixed thoughts.

As for our own games, we now have a fixture date confirmed as part of the Grassroots Football Show at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry on Sunday 10 June 2007 - although we are awaiting our opponents to confirm so we’ll let you know as soon as it’s confirmed.

Straight off the back of that we have a couple of tournament invites, which I have to consider carefully and co-ordinate them with player breaks as they’ll need a rest in the close season. It’s also an important time to get some quality work done without affecting the clubs.

We had more good news last week when we learned that the entries for the 2007 FA Umbro Futsal Cup is now up to around 400 teams. They’ll be competing in the regional leagues for 16 places at The Finals in July. It’s amazing considering just four years ago we only had about 16 teams nationally; it shows the interest in the game around the country is beginning to reflect the huge effort that has been put in.

That’s it for now, I’ll be back in a couple of weeks. In the meantime, here are a few questions that have dropped into the inbox since last time…


Your Questions
Has there been any progress in Women's Futsal, i.e. a National Team or any UK competitions?
Simon Buckingham

We are working hard to promote the game for Women and the FDOs (Football Development Officers) are doing a great job. There are women’s teams now popping up around the country and to get that going it needs some impetus from players. For the first time this year there will be a women’s competition at the National Finals, which reflects our efforts. Hope Powell has been to see one of our games and loved it whilst Dawn Scott, the women’s Exercise Scientist, is very keen on its physiological benefits as a conditioning tool, too.


Will you be attending the University Championship Finals at Sheffield and what are your hopes from this? In your opinion, will some future Internationals be figuring and do players stand a good chance of being selected? And finally, do you have any views on the formation of an Under-21 Futsal Team?
Andy Lindridge, Hartlepool

Hi Andy, yes it’s my intention to attend those Finals and some of the group games as well. I want the best players available to me to play for England, which is always the agenda for any National Coach. We need to remain realistic and not talk up our credentials and at the moment we don’t have enough players of international quality out there, but that will come. This is a team that anyone from any level can get into if they have what it takes, so any player who offers more than those currently on F30 will be selected.

At present, there isn’t an Under-21 competition on the international stage, and there are only a few Under-21 teams around the world where the game is more developed. For England, if you’re Under-21 and good enough, then I want you in the Senior Team. In the longer term, age group teams are a possibility, but personally I would opt for an U16 or U18 team to facilitate development, but no other nations play internationally at that level so it will be better to focus on good club structures instead.


In the future, do you see Futsal as a sport to be championed alongside football to stand-alone in its own right, or as something for eleven-a-side development?
George Carney

I think that the two are linked, just like two abstract sports such as running and swimming where using one to develop core components for the other can be important. Futsal is a stand-alone game in its own right and that's how it’s marketed but that's historical and was aimed at protecting Futsal, although I'm not sure it’s still a valid concept. However, what is clear is that there are many transferable aspects between the two forms. Futsal can, and based upon what we see of individuals around the world, does develop core attributes in a player, which are then used in the eleven-a-side game, so whilst its a game in it’s own right, its also a great development tool.


What a great column, Graeme, its good to get a glimpse into your thoughts. It’s quite clear at the moment that there are a limited number of good players involved with Futsal in England, which makes your job of winning games very hard. How can, and will, you change that and get the more talented players you clearly need for England.
Steven Perkins, Manchester

Hi Steve, glad you like the column! This is an issue for us, as you rightly highlight, yet it's common in any new sport. But I expected it and I'm very realistic about how much we can progress over short periods. There are some skilful individuals playing Futsal but I'm no longer convinced it’s just skill-based talent that's required - although it’s a key component. It’s multi-skilled players we look for as there are many factors; judgement, physiological, psychologically, the ability to read the game, the understanding to implement the tactical elements and technical execution are all key to being a good Futsal player.

The answer is in the promotion of the game as we try to attract those of the all round calibre we need in the short-term, but more importantly we need knowledge-based coaching in the younger age groups to develop a generation with these qualities.

If you'd like to ask Graeme a question ahead of his next column in a fortnight, email us at editor@TheFA.com



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