Everybody asks themselves about the chances of futsal being part of the London 2012 Olympic Games program. The answer may look like sad news for the futsal world. Being part of a so important event requires the break of unsurmountable barriers at a first sight.

The Olympic Program of 2012 is almost done and when the IOC (International Olympic Committee) carried the meeting to define the host of that year, they voted for which games would be included. Sadly, the futsal wasn´t even mentioned.
The modalities that tried to be included in the Olympic Games Program have lost the battle and didn´t acquire the Olympic Sport "status".

Futsal won´t be considered as an Olympic Sport, but as an Olympic event inside football. The field football is an Olympic Game since the beginning of the event. It´s International Federation, FIFA, is one of the biggest sports organizations of the world.

Regarding Futsal, it has been suffering innumerable modifications concerning its rules and the administration transition from FIFUSA to FIFA, which was essential for the modality growth and recognition.

Its practice officially reaches 140 countries at the male side and 55 at the female one. With FIFA, there´s a grow possibility of plus 37 more countries that are affiliated to the Football Federation.

Non-Olympic Sport
Futsal, or "Indoor Football", isn´ t an Olympic Sport. It´s federation (FIFA) is an entity with an Olympic Sport, the "Field Football".

The route to its inclusion
With futsal growth worldwide, this game has an important role in the recent sport history, which includes the South American Games, promoted by Odepa in 2002 and 2005, the Portuguese Language Games, promoted by ACOLOP - "Portuguese Language Olympic Committee Association"- and innumerable events promoted by the Olympic Council of Asia.

With the inclusion in the Pan American Games hosted by Rio de Janeiro, it will be a great and decisive step for futsal to become an Olympic Game.

Exhibition Sport
One of the few chances that futsal has is the participation as an exhibition sport in London 2012. For this, futsal needs the support of the local Committee. After that, FIFA only needs to do a request. The 1988 Olympic Games, hosted by Seul, marked the last time that the IOC promoted the dispute between exhibition sports, which didn´t integrate the official program and which results weren´t officially computed.

The Campaign
With the FIFA recognition, in name of its president Joseph Blatter, the "Futsal! An Olympic Dream - London 2012" campaign is the greatest demonstration of Futsal´s interest in being a part of the Olympic Games.
With more than 80 countries around the world supporting this important message that the Paulista Futsal Federation launched worldwide, Futsal can dream with the possibility of being one of the games inside the greatest sports event in the world, the Olympic Games.

Added to the "Olympic Dream" message, the Paulista Futsal Federation carries the campaign with Fair Play messages, development of the game and mainly, the union between Futsal fans around the world to make the dream come true



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