8/9/2019 The History of Futsal

1/2

The history of futsal

The origins of futsal can be traced back to Uruguay in 1930, where, amid theeuphoria that greeted the country's victory at the inaugural FIFA World Cup on

home soil, there was a football being kicked on every street corner in the capitalMontevideo.

Juan Carlos Ceriani, an Argentinian physical education instructor living there at thetime observed many youngsters practising football on basketball courts owing to theshortage of football pitches. It was there and then that the idea for a five-a-side

variation came about.

Borrowing from the rules of water polo, handball and basketball, Ceriani drew up theoriginal rules of game, which were quickly be adopted across South America. In1965 the Confederacion Sudamericana de Futbol de Salon (South American FutsalConfederation) was formed, consisting of Uruguay, Paraguay, Peru, Argentina andBrazil, the latter having quickly developed into a hotbed for the sport.

Futsal crossed the Atlantic to Europe along with the many Spanish and Portugueseimmigrants returning from South America at that time. The continued growth in thesport then led to the foundation of FIFUSA, the Federacion Internacional de Futbolde Salon (International Futsal Federation), comprising of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil,Paraguay, Peru, Portugal and Uruguay.

In late 1985, before the sport had the kind of appeal it has today, Joseph S. Blatter,then FIFA General Secretary, and Joao Havelange, FIFA's then President, decidedjointly to incorporate futsal into the global football family.

To this end, Blatter entrusted his assistant, the Chilean-Spaniard Miguel GalanTorres, and Havelange's advisor, the Brazilian Jose Bonetti, with the task of bringingtheir goal to fruition. At their first meeting, the two men came to realise that therewas neither uniformity in the rules of the game, nor in the pitches or balls beingused.

In January 1986, Galan Torres and Bonetti began work in earnest. Using football'sLaws of the Game as a template, they made the necessary modifications for thefive-a-side version. Among other decisions taken was one to have the pitch and goalsize identical to those of handball. The also incorporated several suggestions from

FIFUSA and even borrowed from the sport of ice hockey. Finally, after a long periodof preparation, the provisional Laws were completed.

To see how the rules would stand up in practice, it was necessary to road-test them,and in this regard the contribution of Pablo Porta Bussons, the then President of theSpanish Football Association (RFEF) and a member of FIFA's Executive Committee,was vital. It was Porta Bussons who lobbied within the RFEF for the need for a trialchampionship. After received approval, Porta convinced his colleague, the HungarianGyorgy Szepezi, that the Hungarian Football Association should organise the firsttest tournament. The event, which featured Belgium, the Netherlands, the USA,Spain, Peru, Brazil, Italy and which was won by the host nation, turned out to be a

success and proved that the Laws worked in practice.

8/9/2019 The History of Futsal

2/2

Shortly afterwards, at a meeting in the old RFEF offices in Madrid attended byrepresentatives from various countries, the Laws were modified further to take intoaccount observations from Hungary. It was then that the RFEF put themselvesforward to host the second trial tournament. Their request was approved and theevent was held in La Coruna, El Ferrol and Santiago de Compostela in February1987. The attending nations were Belgium, Brazil, the Netherlands, the USA,Portugal, Hungary and Italy, with the hosts defeating Belgium in the final.

In September 1987, Galan and Bonetti proposed holding a third test tournament,this time in South America, where the sport had begun. Brazil hosted thecompetition, inviting Chile, Peru, Argentina, Belgium, the Netherlands, Portugal,Spain, the USA and Paraguay. The host city was Brasilia and it was Paraguay whowere eventually crowned champions. The Laws had more than met expectations,and so it only remained for them to be officially approved by FIFA's ExecutiveCommittee.

In the wake of Brazil 1987, Galan met with Blatter and reported that his work had

been completed and that the final step needed to establish futsal as a fully fledgeddiscipline was to give it its own World Cup. Blatter responded by throwing his weightbehind the organisation of the inaugural FIFA Futsal World Cup.

Galan began the search for a host nation. The head of futsal in the Netherlands, Tomvan der Hulst, vouched for his association's ability to organise it, and the Dutch FA'sformal bid was approved by FIFA's Executive Committee. The tournament took placein January 1989 in the host cities of Amsterdam, s'Hertogenbosch, ArnhemLeeuwarden, Utrecht and Rotterdam, where the final was held. Brazil became thefirst world champions by defeating the host nation 2-1.

The Seleo also won the next two editions, in Hong Kong in 1992 and Spain in1996. However, it would be the Spaniards who deservedly relieved the Brazilians oftheir crown at Guatemala 2000, before successfully defending it four years later inChinese Taipei. The FIFA Futsal World Cup is know the fourth longest-running FIFAtournament.

Today, futsal is a firmly established part of the footballing firmament and, with overtwo million registered players (men and women) worldwide, has been one of thefastest growing sports in recent times. With the game's potential popularity trulylimitless, it is sure to help football achieve its social goals right across the globe.