Courtesy: CAF On line


Futsal – an emerging division of African football

14/03/2008

The term Futsal won’t have been common on the lips of African football lovers some years ago, back rapidly it has become one of the fastest spreading sports on the continent.

Futsal is an indoor version of football, derived from the Portuguese futbebol de salao and Spanish futbol sala, which means indoor football.

Unlike association football (which has eleven players each by both teams), Futsal is played between two teams of five players each including a goalkeeper.

A team may have seven substitutes per game, which is usually played with a smaller ball with less bounce than a football.

In Africa, Futsal was popular in North and some parts of the South, but gradually other nations have developed an interest for the indoor version of football expected to hit every corner of the continent within a short time.

The continent’s soccer controlling body, Confederation of African Football (CAF) as part of it quest to develop the game on the continent introduced the African Futsal Championship. It was first held in Egypt in 1996, and has since been played every four years.

Egypt who boast of one of the best Futsal teams on the continent have emerged winners on all three occasions.

The maiden edition came off in Cairo in 1996, and had some participating countries as Ghana, Zimbabwe, Somalia amongst others.

Egypt, hosts beat Ghana in the final to emerge as the first winner of a CAF-organized Futsal tourney; a feat they replicated in 2000 and 2004 with victories over Morocco and Mozambique respectively.

Egypt, by virtue of being the African champions earned a ticket to participate in the world event, World Futsal Championships all three times.

First in Barcelona in 1996, Guatemala (2000) and Taiwan (2004), but fail to progress beyond the group stages each.

Prior to that Algeria and Nigeria had participated in the 1989 and 1992 editions in the Netherlands and Hongkong, as representatives of the continent.

In some parts of Southern America where Futsal is very popular, members of the national various national teams have been graduates of Futsal tournament.

Brazilian greats such as Ronaldinho, Robinho, Ronaldo, Rivaldo and Juninho started out playing futsal.

With Futsal spreading fast around Africa, it is anticipated that players at future African Cup of Nations, would have been products of the African Futsal championship.

From March 21-30, Libya will be hosting the 4th of the African Futsal Championships, also the preliminaries of world event slated for Brazil later in the year.

Ten countries will be participating in the Tripoli-event, namely – Libya (host), Angola, Cameroon, Egypt, Morocco, Mozambique, Nigeria, South Africa, Tunisia and Zambia.

The two finalists will represent the continent at the World Futsal Championships billed for Brasilia and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil from September 30 – October 19.

For the first time since the inaugural FIFA Futsal World Championship held in the Netherlands in 1989, two countries will represent Africa in Brazil.






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