What is Futsal and Why play it?

Futsal, have you ever heard of it?

Well, I'm here to tell you all about this incredibly unique sport played by several professional football players in their youth.

It is a 5-a-side indoor game that consists of two twenty minute halves which originated in the 1930s in Uruguay and Brazil. Each team has one time out per half and unlimited substitutions throughout the game.

The clock always stops when the ball goes out of play or when there is a time out or incident. The ball is smaller and heavier than your typical football and it is kicked or thrown into play after it goes out within a four second time limit, keeping the game swift.

The sport has emerged into the sporting scene over the last few years in Britain however it has been a dominant, competitive sport in South America and the rest of Europe for decades.

In Spain and Portugal in the 21st century, 71% of children have played futsal!

Teams have adopted specific strategies and formations to outplay their opponents like subbing on a fly goal keeper, which adds another outfield player, when losing by more than three goals.

Skills are a big misconception of futsal despite its worth in the game because futsal is very much a team sport where you rarely see a player take more than two or three touches, one with the sole and one to pass or shoot.

Players usually would take players on only on the wings. Otherwise, a slick pass or ambitious shot is the way forward.

Futsal is an extremely intense and fast-paced game which never seems to disappoint.

Players of 'futbol sala' (hall football) include arguably the top 3 football players in the world: Lionel Messi, Neymar Jr and Cristiano Ronaldo who have all played futsal when they were younger.

Christopher Johnson from Tokyo, Japan, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

This obviously demonstrates how futsal has helped these players to develop better spacial awareness, fluidity, incisive passes and tekkers!

If you want to advance rapidly in football, go give futsal a try!

In a matter of months your touch, decision making, shot, pass, skill and overall technique will all sky 🚀 on top of ultimately, your love of the game.