In Deportes Caneda we are football lovers and that is why we want to teach you everything about this discipline and its variations. That’s why today we tell you everything about futsal, we tell you details about its history, rules and more. Read on and learn about this subject.
Know everything about futsal
This sport is one of the fastest growing in the world. Many use it as a development tool for young footballers. This is because it is played with a smaller and heavier ball, so it promotes control, touch and passing.
These techniques are increasingly used in professional football. The equipment is similar, but there are key differences, for example, football boots have studs, while futsal boots have rubber soles.
History of Futsal
This discipline, also called indoor soccer or micro soccer, is a sport that was born in the 20th century in Uruguay. It is a variant of traditional football, retaining some elements of it, but also adding specific rules that are very different from those of football.
Futsal was born specifically in 1930 in Uruguay. This was when a physical education teacher, Juan Carlos Ceriani, introduced a smaller version of football for indoor fields. This while working at YMCAs (The Young Men’s Christian Association).
His first rule book was published in 1933. Ceriani wrote the rules and took as examples the principles of football, such as the possibility of touching the ball with all parts of the body except the hands.
But, he also took data from basketball, such as the number of players (five) and the duration of the game (40 minutes). And even from the toilet polo he took the rules of the goalkeeper and the handball for the field and the size of the goalposts.
It was originally developed to play on basketball courts. The idea was to create a game that looked like football, but could be played on both open and closed fields. And it became very popular in Uruguay after this country won the 1930 World Cup, as well as Olympic medals in the 1924 and 1928 Olympics.
Futsal spread throughout Latin America and the world
This game became more and more known in Latin America thanks to the YMCA. It was very easy to play, no matter what the weather was like outside and so players could keep fit all year round.
João Lotufo took it to Brazil and adapted it to the needs of physical education. Initially there were no uniforms. In 1956, Habib Maphuz and Luiz de Oliveira, with the YMCA of Sao Paulo in Brazil, changed the rules and allowed older adults to compete.
Luiz de Oliveira wrote the Futsal Rules, which were adopted at international level. By 1965, the South American Futsal Confederation was created, comprising Uruguay, Paraguay, Peru, Argentina and Brazil.
Shortly afterwards, they organised a tournament that attracted a lot of interest. It is said that journalist José Antônio Inglêz was one of the main contributors to the growth of the sport, and it was he who coined the term “futsal”.
Then, in 1971, the International Federation of Futsal (Fifusa) was formed, comprising Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, Peru, Portugal and Uruguay, which later grew to 32 countries.
The world championships began, the first one was in Sao Paulo, Brazil, in 1982, and the local team won. Then, the federation began to work to make the sport known in Europe and so the second Futsal World Cup was in Madrid in 1985.
Due to the popularity of the sport, FIFA began to concern itself with futsal. But there was a dispute between this organization and Fifusa that lasted several years, so the latter registered the word fut-sal in 1985.
More confederations and the MFA
Then, from more disputes was formed in 1990 the Pan American Confederation of Indoor Football, with Paraguay, Colombia, Uruguay, Mexico, Costa Rica, Venezuela, Argentina, Bolivia, Puerto Rico, Ecuador, Canada, Aruba and Netherlands Antilles.
This confederation later became the AMF (World Futsal Association), an international futsal government independent of FIFA. Both organisations currently govern the sport.
The WFA has 58 member countries and six continental members.
In Spain there is the National Futsal League, which regulates the game in its different categories, children, youth and professionals. As well as female and male. In addition, our country participates in various international futsal competitions.
