HISTORYHISTORYofof

FUTSALFUTSAL

Futsal was born in the 30's in the YMCAYMCA - Uruguay

At the time Uruguay had won the world cup and was Olympic champion twice already... For this

reason a lot of people wanted to play Football, but there was a lack of space.

The solution was to improvise in smaller places, such as in basketball

courts for example. However being it a much smaller space compared to a Football pitch, new rules had to be

created

Hazy origins...Hazy origins...

While Ceriani was fostering the game in Uruguay, a similar small-sided game was being played on the streets of Sao Paulo,

Brazil. The game quickly spread throughout South

America as 'futbol 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.

Brazil Futsal

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Brazil Futsal

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

credited the game freely.

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Initially it was a game for children, but it became quickly an adults favourite.

In Brazil, as well as in many other countries, Futsal remains a school for

developing players but has mainly become a professional sport on its own

right.

In Brazil Futsal is the biggest sport in terms of participation and 2nd in

popularity. Nowadays Brazilian Futsal magnitude can be evaluated by the 10

million players around the country

Practitioners first contacts take place in the early school years, making room for

its popularity.

Skill, improvisation and pleasure offered by Futsal are the key features that fascinate students, professional

players and weekend athletes as well.

Most football players started their career at the Futsal courts, refined

their moves and extended the acquired skills into the pitches.

The Futsal athlete must be agile, have quick thinking and accurate passes.

Players have to be smarter and faster, have precise moves and finishings, speed and attention to what is going

on around them.

Thanks to these distinguishing features, we can easily identify which

pitch player performed in Futsal

In Brazil we encourage players to play Futsal from age 5 until the age of 14 when the transition to Football is still

easier.

Fun, skill, improvisation, quick thinking, vision, speed and agility are

some of the qualities emphasised when coaching Futsal to children.

The right teaching of Futsal encourage players to play the ball in tight areas of

the court and keep possession of it.

This approach is important so that when a match situation demands from

our players skills they will be comfortable with it.

That's the game I use to play when I was little, I like it very much – Zinedine

Zidane