OLYMPIC DREAM: THE CAMPAIGN AROUND THE WORLD With the new contacts from Qatar, Lebanon, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam, the campaign "FUTSAL! An OLYMPIC DREAM - LONDON 2012" reaches 80 countries with the message for the inclusion of the modality in the Olympic Games program.
Itīs the greatest worldwide manifestation in favor of the Olympic Futsal. Hundreds of mails are received each day by the campaign coordination. Almost 6 thousand campaign books and 20 thousand shirts were distributed to help spreading this great project.
For the president of the Paulista Futsal Federation(FPFS), Dr. Ciro Fontão de Souza, the campaign mentor, the recent growth of participant countries was an objective.
"When we released the 2005 edition of the book, we had contact with 40 countries, it took 3 years of hard work to get this number. In the last 10 months, this number doubled and we are satisfied to announce that 80 countries worldwide are supporting our message" , said Ciro Fontão.
After the book release, which tells the projectīs story and itīs major supporters, the campaign got bigger and with the great number of people visiting the official FPFS site, the project could be expanded to many countries.
"We reached 75 countries and with the support of plus Five asian countries, we were able to reach the 80 number, this is a great example of how strong the FPFS message is" Ciro said.
The Project coordination knows of the difficulty to include the futsal in the London 2012 Olympic Games program. Itīs inclusion as an event inside the football would need more time(seven years before the Olympic Games), however, the main goal of this campaign is to gain attention daily for this movement.
In the Olympic Program revision in 2002, IOC(International Olympic Committee) considered the futsal as a sport with low global participation and the need of a separated place for it was considered.
With those barriers, itīs important to spread the greatness of this Sport, by clarifying the opinion and point of view mentioned by IOC in itīs report.
"...low global participation..."
When this report was released, in 2002, futsal was officially practiced in about 100 countries. Recently, in the first FIFA Seminary for south American countries, Jaime Yarza, futsal manager of the entity, announced that 140 countries are practicing the sport and other 37 countries are interested in the developing futsal.
" Fifa made an ample research about the practice of futsal worldwide, the reports confirms that one way or another, futsal is practiced officially in 140 countries, however, 37 countries are interested in promoting futsal in their communities" said Jaime Yarza - Fifaīs Futsal Manager.
In 2002, FIFA announced that futsal between women is played in 40 to 50 countries. A possible growing in this subject wasnīt mentioned in the last report.
Dr. Ciro Fontão believes that only with a strong development of the womenīs futsal, this dream will be possible to become true.
"In our state(São Paulo), the FPFS promotes lots of championships between women, giving great value to it. Our Paulista team has won the brazilian championship in itīs category for three times already. " Said the FPFS president.
"...the principle of non inclusion of a Sport with similar nature..."
Futsal developed itīs own kind of training, arbitration, beddings and tactical abilities. Those beddings, although based in the football principles, they require a specific and different kind of training.
Futsal is not similar to the football as much as any other modality already included in the Olympic Games:
*Beach Volleyball and Indoor Volleyball;
*Artistic Gymnastics and Rhythmic Gymnastics;
*Water Polo and Swimming;
*Canoeing-Flatwater and Canoeing-Slalom;
*Judo and Taekwondo;
*Tabble Tennis and Tennis;
Thus, we understand that futsal and football could, together, be part of the event. Fifa believes, in itīs statute, that futsal is a kind of field football and not like a different kind of football.
"The need of a separate place..."
The Futsal competitions can be easily placed together with other modalities, like Handball, Basketball, etc. Futsal can be practiced in Multi-sports gymnasiums.
One of the reasons of the great growing in the number of people playing futsal is the fact that Multi-sports facilities allow the combination of this Sport with others in a easy way.
This report, elaborated by the Executive Commission of the Olympic Program has discarted the inclusion of futsal in the Pequim 2008 Olympic Games program.
In 2005, Londres was chosen as the host of the 2012 Olympic Games. In that occasion, a revision of the olympic program was made and the Futsal wasnīt even among the candidates. Squash, Karate, Ice Skate, Rugby and Golf didnīt get the minimum votes to become Olympic Sports. The London Sports program will have only 26 sports.
Baseball and Softball were excluded from the program in the same session in Cingapura.
The Futsal Growth:
The IOC recommends that "Recognized Sports" should be represented in the Regional Games and then, by doing a strong campaign with the host city, they may be able to be included in the Olympic Games. Futsal is already included in almost all of the Regional Games, like the Pan-American Games, the South American Games, Asian Games, Lusofonia Games and many others around the world.
Exhibition Sport:
The 1988 Olympic Games, hosted by Seul, marked the last time that the IOC promoted the dispute between exhibition sports, witch didnīt integrate the official program and which results werenīt computed officially.
Paralympic Sport:
Althought being know as "5īs Football" in Brazil, the rest of the world calls it Paralympic Futsal. The "5īs Football" is played by athletes with visual deficiency. Only the goalkeeper is able to see. This modality is practiced in adapted futsal courts and the ball has internal guizos to make easier to find itīs location.
Recognition of the FPFSīs campaign:
Since 2003, the Paulista Futsal Federation is gaining adhesions and support for the Olympic Dream Campaign. The great achievements are Fifaīs compliments and recognition, the official letters sent by the most important football entities in the world and the participation of 80 countries.
Posted by
Luca Ranocchiari -->
luca.ranocchiari@futsalplanet.com 
