Courtesy: Yorkshire Evening Post


England plays catch-up with European five-a-side game

SOCCER fans in Leeds are trying to grow a five-a-side game which is already popular in Europe.

Futsal (translated as "indoor football") is promoted by FIFA and the European Championships took place in Portugal in November.

It is a fast game which uses a size 4 ball and is closer to mainstream soccer than conventional five-a-side.

It should also not be confused with Futebol de Salao, the Brazilian game which uses a size 2 ball and has different rules. This version has been spread across Britain by Simon Clifford, owner of Garforth Town FC.

The Football Foundation, the UK's largest sports charity, has recently awarded nearly £9,000 to promote futsal in West Yorkshire.

Project coordinator Martin Oxley, secretary of a futsal club at Wigton Moor, north Leeds, said he hoped a Leeds League would start at Scott Hall Sports Centre on February 1.

Players over the age of 15 are invited to take part and ideally the league will have eight teams.

Mr Oxley said: "Italy alone has 70,000 futsal players and we hope that the game will catch on now that England has an Italian manager.

"The England futsal team still has a long way to go and has been beaten by minor teams such as Andorra and Cyprus.

"It is a game which improves fitness, passing and positional play. And we believe that if this game is adopted at junior level, we shall see the skills which foreign teams enjoy enter into our own football."




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