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FUTSAL

WELCOME TO
FUTSAL

THE DUGOUT 17

The England national team ranked 90th in the world in action against Greece

Futsal is one of the fastest growing sports in the world with thousands of professional football clubs introducing it to their youth teams. The Dugout talks to England Futsal manager and head of development at the FA Pete Sturgess about the strengths and weaknesses of the game.
Brazil, Germany, Italy, France and Spain, the countries that have won the FIFA World Cup since England achieved world domination in 1966. Therefore it is no real surprise that these nations can all be found in the top ve of FIFAs Futsal world rankings. Futsal was born in Uruguay in 1930, created by Juan Carlos Ceriani. Its the indoor version of vea-side football, which was played by the footballing greats of all generations, from Brazilian legend Pele to Lionel Messi to Spains Andres Iniesta. It wasnt until 2003 that the England national Futsal team was
Andreas Iniesta

created. Nowadays they languish 90th in the FIFA world rankings, one place behind Tahiti. England national Futsal manager, Pete Sturgess, believes so: The players who experience Futsal when young accept this as part of the game so applying them to Football is not such a massive step, The game is changing and so is the landscape of development. Futsal is now being closely monitored as to the part it can play in developing world class players who can represent their country in Football and this has to be a positive step. Sturgress doubles up as the FAs national development ocer tasked with developing the next generation

of English football stars. He is one of many the FA who is keen to see Futsal used as a coaching method. If a player plays Futsal during their formative years there is a unique combination of play, technical development and it helps develop high levels of tness and physical literacy. If you look at a player who possesses these qualities and you add to that the traits that have long been admired in English players then you might be developing players who can play at the highest level. This is something we are trying to do. A repeat of Englands 1966 world cup win could still be some time o but the FA could do much worse than leaving future generations of footballers in the hands of the teacher who schooled Pele, Ronaldo and Messi; Futsal.

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