Futsal is the only form of ‘indoor football’ or ‘five-a-side’ that is officially approved by FIFA and Football Federation Australia. It’s one of the fastest-growing sports in the world, is played in over 100 countries, and boasts millions of players around the world.

 

Futsal is an exciting, popular football format, played indoors on a smaller, hard court with boundary lines, catering for all age groups, all genders, and skill levels.

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Futsal is played between two teams of five players, including a goalkeeper, with unlimited substitutions permitted. Futsal is also played with a smaller, harder, low-bounce ball.

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The surface, ball, and rules combine for a high-skill format, that favors excellent ball control.

The emphasis is on creativity and technique.
 

The Origins of Futsal

The name 'Futsal' is derived from the Portuguese, futebol de salão and the Spanish, fútbol de salón (colloquially fútbol sala), which can be translated as "hall football" or "indoor football".
 

The origins of futsal can be traced back to Uruguay in 1930, where amid the euphoria 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 their capital, Montevideo.

Juan Carlos Ceriani, an Argentinean physical education instructor living there at the time, observed many young people practicing football on basketball courts owing to the shortage of football pitches.  It was there and then that the idea for a five-a-side variation of football came about.