The FA Umbro Futsal Leagues

The FA initiates a new competition on Sunday with the Kick-Off of the FA Umbro Futsal Leagues – South, Midlands, and North. These Leagues involve the best 23 teams in the country and mark the next steps in the development of FIFA’s approved format of Small Sided Football in England.

The FA’s Head of Small Sided Football – Dermot Collins - is delighted to see this development;

‘Up until now Futsal Clubs in this country haven’t really had too much to play for. The FA Umbro Futsal Cup is great but after 3 three intense days many clubs were faced with returning to low level local competition or attending European Invitational Tournaments. The Regional Futsal Leagues will provide the best clubs with ongoing high level competition and as a result give them an incentive to develop themselves – find and train better players, locate sponsors, start up youth sections for instance’

Given Futsal’s international popularity it is no surprise to see this reflected in the origins of some of the competing teams who derive from Portugal, Brazil, Russia, Ukraine, Lithuania and Iran. However there is an awareness that for the sport to flourish there is a need to include and develop English Players. Encouragingly a number of clubs have taken this up with two Brazilian teams merging with two English Teams to form FCF Corinthians and Kickers Futsal Clubs, whilst FC White Bear has been scouting the Five-a-Side centres of North London for English talent that can be added to their Eastern European squad.

Collins commented ‘The development of English Players is a key outcome for the Leagues as the England National Futsal Team have enjoyed little success in fielding a team predominantly of non league football players. Whilst we have recruited good technical football players they have struggled to come to terms with the skill, movement, fitness and tactical awareness required in Futsal. The standard of International Futsal is very high with many professional or semi professional Leagues throughout the world. Our England players need to be playing the game more regularly and at a higher standard in their clubs if they are to stand any chance of competing. The FA will back this up with Coach Education opportunities for the club coaches which UEFA has identified as being a crucial success factor’

Matches will predominantly take place on a Sunday afternoon at three central venues – The University of Hertfordshire, Nechells Sports Centre in Birmingham and Hillsborough Sports Centre in Sheffield although a number of clubs will also stage some home fixtures in an attempt to create a local fan base. Each team will play each other twice with the top two from each division progressing to a Play off Final at the end of September to contest for the title of National Champion and the qualification place for the UEFA Futsal Cup. In addition to the Futsal Leagues, the FA Umbro Cup will continue to run and will provide a means of new and emerging clubs to establish their playing credentials.

The teams involved in each League will be;

Southern
Kickers Futsal
Maidstone United FC
White Bear Futsal Club
Vaughans FC
FCS Corinthians
Helvecia
Futbol Sala Northaw
Baltic Futsal Club


Midlands
Loughborough University
Team Bath
Birmingham Tigers
Team United Birmingham Futsal Club
The New Saints Futsal Club
Ipswich Wolves
Preston Futsal Club

North
Sheffield CFA
Sheffield FC
Hull Futsal
FC Grimsby
Middlesbrough Futsal Club
Tranmere Victoria Futsal Club
Manchester Futsal Club
Futsal Club Barsa


Week One Fixtures – Sunday 2nd March

Southern League – University of Hertfordshire
10.00 Baltic v Futbol Sala Northaw
2.15 White Bear v Kickers Futsal
4.00 Maidstone United v Helvecia


Midlands League – Nechells Sports Centre
13.15 The New Saints vs Preston
15.15 Team Birmingham vs Ipswich Wolves

Northern League – Hillsborough Sports Centre
13.15 Hull vs Tranmere Victoria
14.50 Grimsby vs Manchester
16.20 Sheffield &Hallam vs Sheffield FC

University of Teeside

13.15 Middlesbrough vs Futsal Club Barsa





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