Futsal, without a doubt, is one of the most attractive and played sports in the world and every day its number of fans and players continue to increase. For this reason, in this article, we'll discuss some curiosities about the game that you may not know about.
Opposite to what many people think, the Sport was not created in Brazil, instead, it was invented in Uruguay, by Juan Carlos Ceriani. As the country gets really cold during some months of the year, practicing Football or Soccer was really hard, and as Juan Carlos Ceriani saw the need to keep training his players longer, keeping them in shape throughout the season, he decided to start training his team in indoor facilities, starting then what we know as Futsal.
The game is well known for its high speed and pace, which is one of the main reasons why most schools and clubs around the world encourage parents of players younger than 11 or 12 years old, to prioritize the sport of Futsal over regular Soccer. In many cases, players start training Futsal at 4 or 5 years old, having then a strong base and roots once they reach 11 and 12.
The Futsal school or training methodology that might be the most popular and well known for its success in player development though Futsal, is Santos FC, a Brazilian Football Club which plays in the Brazilian national league and has developed none other than the king Pelé.
Most recently, Santos FC was showcased around the world for its new Prodigy, The young Brazilian Kauan Basile, who is the youngest player to ever sign a contract with Nike. He did it only at the age of 8. He arrived at Santos when he was 6 years old, after his older brother was selected to play for the Santos U15s.
Nike has already sponsored several Brazilian wonderkids such as PSG star Neymar who was signed at just 13 years old and Real Madrid's winger, Rodrygo, at 11 years old. Rodrygo who, at the time of signing, was the youngest athlete to be sponsored by Nike.
The sport is governed by FIFA, which provides rules and regulations for the game around the world. FIFA is also the one to organize the Futsal World Cup. However, the institution has not yet, now in 2022, recognized Futsal as an Olympic sport. There are a few speculations as to why the sport is not in the Olympics but nothing has ever been confirmed by FIFA.
The game does not have Offsides which requires players to better understand how to utilize space and time. However that's not always been the case. When the sport was created, it did include offsides just like in regular Football/Soccer. Only at the end of the 80s and the beginning of the 90s, that the offside rule was discontinued.
Another interesting thought about Futsal that a lot of people have, is that the Sport will mainly develop technical skills, which is true at certain times, especially as young as the players are, however the game will develop very important Tactical skills that are very unlikely to be developed only in Football or Soccer.
With a limited space to play, Futsal players have to constantly work on their cognitive skills and decision making, trying to solve situations in milliseconds. Plus it's very hard to dribble multiple opponents, and even harder to score goals alone. When you watch a competitive adult Futsal match, you can see how hard it is for players to score a goal simply by dribbling players. A lot of goals scored in the game are generated through a team combination of passes and movements, thus the well known Futsal phrase, a lot of Futsal coaches use, "Pass and Move."
Although you may know the sport of Futsal by FIFA rules, which is the most common, there's another variant of the sport, called Fútbol de Salón, in Spanish or Futebol de Salão, in Portuguese. The Futsal you know is organized by FIFA and has its own rules, and the Futbol de Salon, is organized by the AMF (Asociacion Mundial de Futsal or World Futsal Association) which is composed mainly by South American countries. Since the beginning, there has been a conflict between FIFA and the AMF in regards to how the game should be played and who was the international body for the sport. AMF argues that the well known Futsal dictated by FIFA is not the correct or original form of the sport but as FIFA has always been more powerful, as it governs Soccer, its version was the one who has been most played around the World.
Both sports are basically the same, however there are certain differences that make each sport interesting.
In both sports, Futsal by FIFA and Futebol de Salon by AMF, there are no limits of substitutions. In Futsal players can come and go whenever the coaches decide, however in Futbol de Salon, substitutions can only be made when the game is stopped.
Both organizations, FIFA and AMF, use yellow cards to caution players. The difference comes with the red cards, which in Futsal a player who receives a red card can only be replaced after 2 minutes and in Fútbol de Salón, a player can immediately be substituted. Also AMF uses a Blue Card in Futbol de Salon, which ejects a player from the game but does not suspend the player from the following match.
In Futsal throw-ins are called 'kick-ins'. The ball has to be stopped and the player has to kick the ball in order to play, while in Futbol de Salon throw-ins are called 'throw-ins.' There's no difference than in Soccer. Players have to throw the ball in order to play.
There are other small differences but these are the major ones.
I hope you have enjoyed this article and learned a bit more about the sport.