UEFA Futsal Champions League Finals UK Preview

The UEFA Futsal Champions League commences in Zadar this week and you can watch in the UK!

The matches will span from the 28th April until the final on the 3rd May at 7PM BST.

The teams featuring in this prestigious event following their qualification for the finals in February are Inter Movistar, Barça, Kairat Almaty and Sporting who are more prominent within this competition as they share 11 out of the 19 titles that have been up for grabs since the tournament's establishment in 2002.

Additionally, Benfica, Dobovec, KPRF and Ugra Yugorsk will play in this season's edition of the Futsal UCL.

The Champions League for this unique sport is significantly less renowned to the world while its football counterpart, founded in 1955, is one of the biggest and most memorable occurrences to fans each year.

European Futsal competition has just set off comparatively but has brought brilliant success to clubs and their fans as futsal becomes more appreciated by the UEFA organisation.

Spain have been the formidable country, producing impeccable teams and individuals as El Pozo have missed out to Barça and Movistar throughout the years who have participated in 12 out of the 19 finales.

Barcelona celebrating their 3rd Futsal UCL cup win last year. FC Barcelona.com

But, the unprecedented sporting success of Kazakstan has emerged through futsal as now European giant Kairat Almaty, based in the largest city of the country, have won 2 titles in which the most notable victory was against Barcelona in 2015.

It is a more realistic setting for this years finals in Zadar where the health situation remains stable and approved to host compared to the dismal event last year in the contemporary climate.

Speaking on the UEFA Documentary: A year Under Covid-19, Senior Futsal Competitions Manager Laurent Morel said, "We became experts on ventilation and adapted protocols made for football also to futsal."

He also shared an anecdote about the nature and unbelievable prospects that occur in futsal, "Those amateur clubs that have been thrown into travels into Europe to compete, found resources to overcome challenges. A Northern Irish club from Belfast, with Northern Ireland 48th in the rankings and Ukraine (opponents nation) 10th so the result was 28-1 and the guy who scored the goal was so emotional."

Futsal is an unbelievable community sport and we get the privilege in the UK to witness these teams fighting to the death at the grandest stage of them all in this short 5-day period for the coveted triumph.

Tournament Preview:

The tournament finals will be played between the 28th April and the final on Monday the 3rd of May at 7PM BST.

All coverage in the UK will be on BT Sport. Every Futsal UCL game will be showcased including the live final from 7-9pm in the UK on the BT Sport 2 channel.

It will take place in the Croatian City of Zadar and my prediction is yet another final between Spanish sides Inter Movistar and Barça this season however on this meeting I think Barcelona will ultimately prevail as the best in Europe.

Marcelo Bielsa's Art of Transitions: The Concept Originating from Futsal

  

Leeds United pulled off a shock win against the formidable Premier League leaders Manchester City.

Pep Guardiola met with his idol once again in the form of Argentine madman manager Marcelo Bielsa. Both coaches demand ruthless attacking football but the deciding factor of most of their head to heads and other Bielsa games is the ability of the team to transition from defence to attack expeditiously.

This principle was popularised and formed as a result of futsal. The 5-a-side game sparks incredible commitment from individuals, requiring them to move around the pitch excessively and pose a threatening presence.

Futsal also entails for tremendous technique with possession caused by the tight spaces and the need to pass the ball before the incoming opponents obtains the ball. The Bielsa-Guardiola philosophy summates and corresponds with futsal.

Bielsa's Relentless Style:

The former Athletic Club coach has a philosophy that implies aggressive work rate and ultimately defensive chaos on the pitch. It is made to send his opponents to hell and cheaply give away the football.

This high energy pressing work ethic throughout the game is what a team requires in futsal. A player would close down the player sharply and sprint to follow his man. 

Defensively despite the urge to run, he wants his players to cleverly cover the spaces when not involved within the play and force the opponent with the ball to make a costly decision.

Leeds United and Bielsa have also brought something obscured to the English Football in the form of the 3-3-1-3 in which the personnel in each of the line sin the formation  are interchangeable.

Rotation and positional tactics are just as prioritised by the Argentine in both aspects of the game. His 2nd 3 in the formation look to utilise the spaces in behind the opposition midfielders while Bielsa insists that the striker and wingers stretch the defensive line of the opposition out vertically and horizontally. This is combined with 'Bielsa Ball' where the team plays around quickly until an opening is found while retaining possession, which is similar to Pep Guardiola and his Barcelona side where Messi, Xavi and Iniesta would wait for the right time to clinically pounce. The difference is that Bielsa demands that shots are taken inside the box due to the high probability of long distance shots missing.

The majority of these concepts that are being applied in the Leeds game link directly to futsal (demonstrated in the Levante vs Barça analysis diagrams above). Argentina is amongst the South American countries that play futsal regularly and founded the sport. So, perhaps the story behind this mastermind is somewhat influenced by futsal.

Additionally, the 65-year-old from Rosario incorporates a cynical training drill in his regime called 'Murder Ball', designed meticulously by Bielsa. The drill is quite self-explanatory with the squad playing an 11v11 full stop with no rests at a self-imposed high intensity and constant running. According to LeedsLive,  "It depends on the training how long he wants us to play. It could be five times six minutes, or one times 20 minutes. It just depends what Marcelo wants. Even if the ball goes out, there's a member of staff waiting with another ball to put in. You can't stop." 

This correlates almost identically with futsal as players are challenged to the arduous task of competing at rocketing intensities for 5 or more minutes at a time until they are substituted.

The Leeds squad underwent a major fitness transformation in Bielsa’s first summer in charge showing another footballing obsession of his, involving fitness. Fitness is important for Marcelo Bielsa to develop continuous transitions that are deeply significant like in futsal and effect the result if executed correctly with speed.

The Leeds manager is also unique because of his influential tone around the club and individually to players. Goalscorer against Manchester City Dallas described his coach in his most recent interview as an immensely predominant character in the dressing room, "He gives us, as players, the belief. He does everything he can, him and his staff throughout the week, to give us the best opportunity to go to these places and get a result. I'm sure he may not take credit for getting that result but believe me he had a big part to play in it."

Team values and beliefs that Bielsa has reinstalled within a previously Championship side has depicted them positively despite their goal-fest futsal like games.

There is an abundance of previous futsal players that the two coaches have managed in Spain and across the world as we see philosophies and tradition develop and the game of football change.

Arsenxl, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

De Gea, Pepe Reina: Saving with Futsal Technique

David De Gea and Pepe Reina are known for their obscene goalkeeping reactions and ability to save effectively with their feet. The two Spaniards developed these very skills in their youth when playing the game of futsal.

Both are now at top European football clubs and some of the most talented shot-stoppers in the world.

David De Gea, the boy from Madrid, played as an outfield player in his teenage years playing futsal which helped his development of distribution with both feet. He can play accurate passes with both feet to his teammates.

Futsal also assisted him with sensational reaction time and athleticism as we often see him flying across his goal saving impossible shots from the top strikers in the Premier League.

His unorthodox method of saving sparked confusion amongst the football world despite its effectiveness as we see De Gea save with such continuous comfortability. De Gea is a master of this trait.

A shot rebounding off his foot overall forces the ball away from the opponents immediately rather than a soft push away with his glove perhaps falling to a lurking striker, and never are these mind-boggling saves more than two metres away due to David closing the gap and cutting off angles which limits the opposition.

He won the Golden Glove for the 2017/18 season where he pulled off 115 saves and 28 clean sheets thanks to displaying his futsal saving techniques and positions to deny his opponents. 

Similarly, the current Lazio goalkeeper Pepe Reina, who recently was infected with Covid-19, shows his futsal background in his football matches. Darren Bent described his distribution as 'beautiful' during the decorated Spaniards' loan spell at Aston Villa.

Reina begun his footballing career at La Masia (the youth academy of Barcelona) where he learnt their philosophy involving the importance of quick feet for all positions.

He is widely regarded as the best distributer of the ball of his era with his outrageous long passes and ability to create chances for his team within an instance.

His anticipation and speed off his line is also monumentally thanks to his youth where he learnt to be fast approaching the striker to intimidate them.

We have all adapted to watching the traditional goalkeeper who rarely saves with their feet nor pounces off their line however we may see that future goalkeepers will approach professional goalkeeping with this style as futsal develops worldwide.

Анна Нэсси, CC BY-SA 3.0 GFDL, via Wikimedia Commons                  Football.ua, CC BY-SA 3.0 GFDL, via Wikimedia Commons

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.