Courtesy: The FA.com


Futsal League kicks off

Monday, 03 March 2008

This weekend saw the start of a new FA initiative, as Sunday was 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 - was delighted to see this development get underway as ways in which the game of Futsal can be further developed in England.

“Up until now, Futsal clubs in this country haven’t really had too much to play for,” he said.

“The FA Umbro Futsal Cup is great, but after three 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, this will give them an incentive to develop themselves – find and train better players, locate sponsors and start up youth sections.”

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.

“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,” added Collins.

“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.

The first set of games went as follows:-

South

Baltic 7-4 FCS Northaw
White Bear 9-5 Kickers

Midlands

Ipswich Wolves 5-3 Team Birmingham

North

Middlesbrough 10-1 FC Barsa
Tranmere Victoria 9-6 Hull
Manchester 2-3 Grimsby
Sheffield FC 5-2 Sheffield & Hallamshire

Postponed games: The New Saints v preston and Maidstone United v Helvecia






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