{"id":452,"date":"2015-10-17T09:27:16","date_gmt":"2015-10-17T09:27:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.schoolsplus.co.uk\/cas\/?p=452"},"modified":"2015-10-17T09:28:23","modified_gmt":"2015-10-17T09:28:23","slug":"futsal-vs-football","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.schoolsplus.co.uk\/cas\/2015\/10\/17\/futsal-vs-football\/","title":{"rendered":"Futsal Vs Football"},"content":{"rendered":"

Futsal Vs Football<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A recent article published on the BBC website entitled\u00a0\u201cCould futsal help produce an English Messi?\u201d<\/a>\u00a0has caused a mixed reaction within the futsal community. Some think these types of\u2018futsal for football\u2019 articles<\/strong>\u00a0are excellent for developing our sport and others find them detrimental. In this post I want to look at the underlying beliefs that\u00a0football needs futsal\u00a0<\/a>to develop better players and\u00a0futsal needs football\u00a0<\/strong>in order to\u00a0promote the game<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Tiki-Taka<\/strong><\/p>\n

FC Barcelona<\/strong>\u00a0have caught everyone\u2019s attention by achieving success through applying anintricate possession based style<\/strong>. The resemblance of this way of playing to futsal has led to the opinion by some that it should be a part of any\u00a0football training programme.\u00a0<\/strong>This has been reinforced by the myth that FC Barcelona use futsal in the training sessions of their 1st team and youth players.\u00a0 Is futsal the source of the resemblance? Could the similarity just be a coincidence?<\/p>\n

I would argue that it stems from the concept of space. Pep Guardiola wanted his team to\u00a0control possession\u00a0<\/strong>and he achieved this by creating an\u00a0overload<\/strong>\u00a0in areas of the pitch. This requires that his players are able to play in tight situations. Due to the\u00a0characteristics of the game\u00a0<\/a>Futsal players<\/strong>\u00a0apply\u00a0techniques and tactics\u00a0<\/strong>that are effective for playing in\u00a0small spaces<\/strong>. The limitation of space causes their ways of playing to be alike.<\/p>\n

Barcelona employ\u00a0small sided games\u00a0<\/strong>in their\u00a0training sessions<\/strong>, both at senior and youth level. This gives them a wealth of players who have had to become\u00a0technically proficient and intelligent<\/strong>\u00a0to be capable of excelling in congested areas. These small sided games are very similar to the training methods adopted in futsal and the game itself. Both FC Barcelona and futsal use a\u00a0training philosophy<\/strong>\u00a0of small sided and simplified game situations to be able to play in this way.<\/p>\n

Therefore\u00a0futsal is not essential<\/strong>\u00a0for creating these technical players. With the\u00a0right type of training\u00a0<\/strong>you can develop these players without it. There are other characteristics in futsal that help improve these skills further, such as the hard surface and heavier ball which increase thetempo<\/strong>. But principally, it is the\u00a0space<\/strong>\u00a0available that shapes the attributes of an FC Barcelona and a futsal player.
\n
\n<\/strong>A Football Development Tool<\/strong><\/p>\n

Why has futsal been implemented at youth level in many of the world\u2019s top footballing nations? Some of the\u00a0world\u2019s greatest ever players<\/strong>, including\u00a0Pele, Cristiano Ronaldo and Messi<\/a>, have spoken about how playing futsal in their childhood was\u00a0key to their development<\/strong>.\u00a0 It is suggested that England should copy countries such as\u00a0Brazil, Argentina and Spain\u00a0<\/strong>andintroduce futsal to children<\/strong>\u00a0in order to produce the\u00a0football technicians\u00a0<\/strong>required in today\u2019s modern game.<\/p>\n

The BBC article states;\u201cIn those countries, Futsal is part of a development programme where children play the sport up until the ages of 10 or 11 before deciding whether to focus solely on football or stay with the small-sided variant.\u201d<\/em>It is not actually true that the sport was established as part of a planned and structured development programme. The popularity initially grew from the limited availability of full size grass pitches, yet\u00a0futsal courts<\/strong>\u00a0are found\u00a0in every school and in every neighbourhood<\/strong>. The sport grew in these places because people enjoyed playing and watching it and it was only later that it was discovered that it was helping to\u00a0improve the ability of football players<\/strong>. There are countries which have been successful where futsal hasn\u2019t existed, such as Germany.<\/p>\n

To provide the ideal\u00a0football development environment\u00a0<\/strong>requires coaches who have an excellent education and a lot of time with the players. In England this has been an unachievable goal so far.\u00a0 With characteristics of futsal reflecting\u00a0ideal football training<\/strong>, the promotion of the sport is a much\u00a0easier way<\/strong>\u00a0to achieve the objective of developing better football players. This needs to be done through making futsal readily available especially in informal settings. Personally I would prefer futsal to be used to\u00a0develop futsal players<\/strong>\u00a0but surely the more children that play the sport the more will have this ambition.<\/p>\n

How to promote futsal?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Considering that futsal can help develop football players should this be the way we promote and develop the sport? Football is a\u00a0multi-billion pound industry<\/a>\u00a0and by latching on to it we can access some of that wealth. These\u00a0financial resources<\/strong>\u00a0can be used to\u00a0develop futsal<\/strong>\u00a0in many ways, including increasing its professionalism.<\/p>\n

From my experience in England I am sure futsal would not be as developed as it is, even if some believe it is not progressing fast enough, without the\u00a0help and funding from The Football Association<\/strong>. Would we have such well organised tournaments as The Futsal World Cup and The Futsal Euro without the help of\u00a0FIFA<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0UEFA<\/strong>?<\/p>\n

The current\u00a0UEFA Futsal Cup holders<\/a>\u00a0are\u00a0FC Barcelona Alusport\u00a0<\/strong>who have\u00a0invested heavily<\/strong>\u00a0in both their first team and their youth section. This wouldn\u2019t have been possible without the financial resources generated by the football section. Could we promote the game and achieve such progress without this? If the only reason to\u00a0invest in futsal\u00a0<\/strong>is because it is hoped it will create the\u00a0next Messi<\/strong>, will it provide the\u00a0sustainable impetus and momentum<\/strong>\u00a0needed to develop and grow this sport? Football might just move on to the next \u2018magic pill\u2019.<\/p>\n

Football is the\u00a0world\u2019s most popular sport\u00a0<\/strong>and so by promoting through football we can gain the attention of the many fans that follow it. In\u00a0England\u00a0<\/strong>futsal is almost solely promoted through its\u00a0relationship with football<\/strong>\u00a0and I have seen how the awareness of the sport has grown. I don\u2019t think this would have been possible otherwise.However, in England some people now know the name but not the sport. They think it is doing skills with a heavier ball, a football coaching tool or even table football! Does this type of promotion create the kind of attention and image we want? Would we see articles about futsal in the\u00a0mainstream media<\/strong>, like the one on the BBC, if the link with football wasn\u2019t mentioned? Will we always be seen as football\u2019s little brother,limiting our possibilities<\/strong>? Is our view of our sport so low that we don\u2019t think it can be promoted on its own merits?<\/p>\n

Where I stand<\/strong><\/p>\n

My personal view<\/strong>\u00a0is that we should use the\u00a0benefits to football<\/strong>\u00a0that futsal offers as a way to promote the game. However it should not be the main selling point of this sport. When raisingawareness of futsal<\/strong>\u00a0we should first describe the characteristics of this\u00a0fast paced and dynamic game\u00a0<\/a>and how it is\u00a0fun<\/strong>\u00a0to play and\u00a0exciting<\/strong>\u00a0to watch. Let\u2019s talk about the great tournaments we have, such as the\u00a0FIFA FutsalWorld Cup<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/strong>UEFA Futsal Cup<\/a>,<\/strong>\u00a0or the\u00a0amazing<\/strong>\u00a0abilities of the best players in our history such as\u00a0Falcao<\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0Paulo Roberto<\/a>. Afterwards we can highlight how it has benefited many of the best footballers ever produced.<\/p>\n

This will\u00a0encourage children<\/strong>\u00a0to try futsal. Then there is the possibility they will be captivated and fall in love with this\u00a0beautiful game<\/strong>, where you are always involved in the action. The futsal \u2018product\u2019 is outstanding. The problem is\u00a0awareness<\/strong>. If people get a taste it will sell itself and hopefully they will become hooked. This happened to me who, after playing football my whole life, gave it up completely shortly after being introduced to futsal.<\/p>\n

This is why I think the\u00a0BBC article<\/strong>\u00a0is a\u00a0positive<\/strong>\u00a0thing. If we look past the catchy and slightly ridiculous headline, which is needed to\u00a0grab the attention<\/strong>, towards the end it talks about theEngland Futsal team<\/a>,\u00a0The Futsal World Cup<\/a>, the\u00a0popularity<\/strong>\u00a0of the sport in across the globe and the fight to be entered into\u00a0The Olympics<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I hope that in the\u00a0future<\/strong>\u00a0articles about futsal will be the opposite way round; first discussing thisincredible<\/strong>\u00a0game, with only a small mention at the end of how it helped players like Pele, Cristiano Ronaldo and Messi. I don\u2019t think there is any right or wrong view on this subject. For me all is debatable and I look forward to seeing others\u2019 opinions on the matter. Should we usefootball<\/strong>\u00a0to promote futsal or is there\u00a0another way<\/strong>?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Futsal Vs Football   A recent article published on the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[46,47],"class_list":{"0":"post-452","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-lettings","7":"tag-futsal","8":"tag-sports-hall-2","9":"entry"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.schoolsplus.co.uk\/cas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.schoolsplus.co.uk\/cas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.schoolsplus.co.uk\/cas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.schoolsplus.co.uk\/cas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.schoolsplus.co.uk\/cas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=452"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.schoolsplus.co.uk\/cas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":455,"href":"http:\/\/www.schoolsplus.co.uk\/cas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452\/revisions\/455"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.schoolsplus.co.uk\/cas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.schoolsplus.co.uk\/cas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.schoolsplus.co.uk\/cas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}