ARARAT AGBU » About Futsal
FUTSAL is unquestionably on the up. It is a high-energy game providing spectacular entertainment from the first minute to the last.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Futsal#History
Pioneered by Uruguay and Brazil, Futsal is a fever-pitch indoor soccer, played by millions throughout the world and now expanding quickly. With no fuzzy balls and walls, futsal is a fast-paced and skilful game of football and encourages the development of technically gifted players. The world's leading footballers such as Ronaldo, Figo and Ronaldinho all played the game as youngsters, with Brazil being the Mecca for futsal since 1930.
Futsal is the official international FIFA Indoor 5-a-side Soccer format. Over 170 of the 204 FIFA Federations are now playing the sport. The game is played by approximately 25 million worldwide with professional leagues operating in Italy, Portugal, Spain, Brazil, Russia and Japan. The game has been hailed by soccer greats such as Pele, Zico and Ronaldo as a key component in soccer development.?
The first modern version of futsal can be traced back to Montevideo, Uruguay, in 1930 when Juan Carlos Ceriani devised a five-a-side version of the traditional eleven-a-side game for youth competitions in YMCA's.
The term 'futsal' is the recognised international term used for the game. It is derived from the Spanish, 'Futbol Sala' and the Portuguese 'Futebol de Salao', both which mean 'indoor football'. It did not take long for futsal to gain rapid popularity throughout South America, primarily in Brazil. The skill developed in this game is visible in the universally-recognised style the Brazilians display on the full-sized pitch. Pele, Zico, Socrates, Bebeto, Ronaldo, Denilson and Roberto Carlos are just some of the Brazilian superstars that credit their skill development to playing futsal as children. While Brazil continues to be the futsal hub of the world, the game is now played, under the auspices of FIFA, all over the world, from Europe to North and Central America and the Carribean, South America, Africa, Asia and Oceania.
The first International competition took place in 1965 when Paraguay won the first South American Cup. Through to 1979, six more South American Cups were held, with Brazil winning them all. Brazil continued its dominance with victory in the Pan American Cup in 1980 and then won again the next time it was played, in 1984.
The first Futsal World Championship was conducted in Sao Paulo, Brazil, in 1982, with Brazil the winners. The Brazilians repeated their success at the second World Championship in 1985 in Spain. FIFA then took over the direct sponsorship of the Championships in in 1989 when the first FIFA World Futsal Championships was held in Holland. Brazil won this one and again in 1992 in Hong Kong and again in Spain in 1996. At the last World Championship held in Guatemala in 2000, Spain broke the trend by beating Brazil 4-3 in the final.
European Futsal has become a leading force in the consolidation of futsal's growing worldwide popularity and the introduction of the UEFA Futsal Championship is a clear token of that. The opening championship in Grenada in 1999, was won by Russia and more recently by Spain in Moscow 2001. In respect of the forthcoming competition, 29 national associations have entered, with Italy exempt from the qualifying phase, as they are hosting the final tournament, which will take place in February 2003.
A brief history of futsal
The first record of an organised five-a-side brand of football dates back to 1930 in Montevideo, Uruguay. The same year the pioneering football nation hosted the first FIFA World CupTM at its brand-new Estadio Centenario, an Argentine-born coach by the name of Juan Carlos Ceriani, so tired of rain-soaked pitches and cancelled training sessions, brought the game indoors for the first time.
With an eye to making his new indoor game more accessible, but also more organised, he put together a set of rules strikingly similar to those that govern futsal today. The children of Montevideo took to the small-sided game with aplomb, and it was played in YMCA houses throughout the capital. The hybrid version was perfectly suited to either outdoor or indoor venues, as all that was needed was a small, basketball-size court.
Hazy origins
While Ceriani was fostering the game Uruguay, a similar small-sided game was being played on the streets of Sao Paolo, Brazil.
The game quickly spread throughout South America as 'futbol sala' (room football, or indoor football) or 'futebol de salao' in Brazil - where the first local leagues sprang up like weeds.
Not surprisingly Brazil took to the hyper-technical, sometimes claustrophobic hybrid of football better than any other. Today many of Brazil's greats point to a childhood full of futsal as one of the main reasons for their skilful ability. Ronaldinho, Pele, Zico, Socrates, Bebeto and countless others all grew up playing futsal, and credit the game freely.
Going global
It didn't take long for the game to spread to every corner of Latin America, and the first international futsal competition kicked off in 1965. And in a bit of a shock it was Paraguay that got off the blocks best, taking home the first South American honours. Brazil won the next six Championships between 1965 and 1979. The yellow-clad pioneers of the five-a-side art then went on to extend their dominance with victories in the 1980 and 1984 Pan American games.
With a lesser number of players, a smaller field and a weighted ball, futsal demanded the emergence of new strategies. Quick feet and a quick mind were imperative, as was the use of the toes and the bottom of the foot.
The International Federation for Futebol de Sala (FIFUSA) was officially founded in Brazil in 1971. And the first Futsal World Championship (though not yet affiliated to FIFA) took place in 1982 in the five-a-side hotbed of Sao Paolo. Continuing their stranglehold on the game, Brazil again took the honours with a team studded with stars from the outdoor game. They then went on to repeat their winning ways in Spain three years later in 1985, before losing their crown in Australia to rivals Paraguay.
Enter FIFA
FIFA got on board in 1989, bringing the five-a-side game under its auspices and sponsoring the first 'official' FIFA Futsal World Championship in 1989 in Holland. With the new official tag, the name of the game officially became 'futsal.' Brazil also got themselves back on track and won the title twice on the trot (Holland 1989 and Hong Kong 1992)
In 1996 the Brazilians again took the world title, but four years later in 2000, Spain - Europe's emerging power - upset the South American apple cart in Guatemala.
Currently on the cusp of challenging Brazil's long-term supremacy, Spain is not the only European team finding their way in the world of futsal. Russia, England, Italy and Ukraine are all emerging as fine five-a-side purveyors in their own right.
With professional leagues popping up in Brazil, Russia, Portugal, Spain, Iran and Japan, the old assumption that futsal is merely a means of developing creativity and skills to be used in the outdoor game is beginning to fade. The small-sided game is thriving, in its own right, on six continents.
Crucial for development
Futsal's role in fostering imagination and creativity to be used in the outdoor game is still crucial.
"Players in Brazil are better than Americans in general because they are more technically sound," current U.S. futsal captain and veteran of Spain 96 Sean Bowers recently told FIFA.com. "We (in the USA) are some of the best athletes in the world, but we really need to get that extra technical edge, and this is where futsal comes in."
Brazil and Real Madrid superstar Ronaldo pointed directly to futsal after scoring a brilliant, toe-poke goal against Turkey in the semi-final of the FIFA World Cup Korea/Japan 2002.
"Nobody expected me to do it," he admitted. "It's not easy to shoot the ball with the point of the toe, but it was just instinctive, and I owe it to playing a lot of futsal when I was a boy."
Looking ahead to the upcoming FIFA Futsal World Championship in Chinese Taipei (21 November - 5 December), all eyes will surely be on Brazil's five-a-side maestros. But with development and participation on the rise, parity is bound to be the watchword this tim around.
Rules & Regulations
You can read the rules and regulations from the official UEFA/FIFA site.
http://www.uefa.com/competitions/futsalcup/history/index.html
http://www.fifa.com/mm/document/affederation/federation/51/44/50/futsal_lotg_2008_en.pdf
http://www.fifa.com/mm/document/affederation/administration/regulations_on_the_status_and_transfer_of_players_en_33410.pdf