Wellington Representative Futsal Team wins first New Zealand National Futsal Championship.

Wellington’s representative Futsal Team, Capital Futsal, won the National Selection Tournament held at the ASB Stadium in Kohimarama, Auckland, over the weekend of 23rd and 24th of November 2007.

“The competition level was extremely high showing that New Zealand Futsal is alive and well” says Brian Blellock, Capital Futsal’s Coach, “in fact the standard was far higher than we had anticipated and was initially led by East Coast Reds - the de-facto New Zealand Team”. He described the games as fast with tactics that probed and rolled defences, that unleashed furious attacks at goal.

East City Futsal provided a professional competition with around 400 spectators. Noah Hickey, former All White, and international player, presented the top awards to Capital Futsal team members. Most valuable player for Capital Futsal was Renan Campoa and Greg O’Connor received the overall tournament “Golden Boot Award”, for scoring the most number of goals.

New Zealand selectors also attended to select New Zealand’s best Futsal players for the National Train–on Squad. This squad will compete in the Oceania Football Confederation’s Futsal World Qualifying Tournament in July 2008. Capital Futsal is currently bidding to host this in Wellington. The winner will then represent Oceania at the Futsal World Cup to be held from 1 to 19 October 2008 in Brazil.

Capital Futsal would like to share their success and invite you to participate in the next league, set for mid January 2008. League registrations and further information are available online at the www.futsal.net.nz website. The website also links to NZ Futsal so you can also find a local competition, not just in Wellington.

About Capital Futsal
Capital Futsal is established as a Trust (not a profit making private company), with the goal to promote the game of Futsal in Wellington and New Zealand. Capital Futsal and Capital Football are building Futsal participation in Wellington, through local competitions, business house leagues, sharing information about other national competitions and through demonstrations both in local colleges and public displays. This commitment supports the NZ drive to promote participation in sport.

About the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC)
Extract from the OFC website, www.oceaniafootball.com. “The OFC oversees the development of football within the South Pacific and Oceania regions. The OFC is also responsible for the organization of regional, FIFA and Olympic qualifying tournaments for its members to participate in. The winners of FIFA qualifying tournaments represent Oceania at FIFA World Championships. There are 12 member nations; American Samoa, Australia, Cook Islands, Fiji, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu - 2 associate members; Northern Marianas, Niue.”



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