Futsal 101: Basics of the ultimate small-sided game Beyond the Bench

A total of 32 teams played in the preliminary round. Seeding of teams was based on their 2023 UEFA futsal club coefficients. Eight teams were pre-selected as hosts and were first drawn from a separate pot to their corresponding seeding position. The remaining teams were then drawn from their respective pots to their corresponding seeding position. Teams from Armenia & Azerbaijan, and Kosovo & Bosnia and Herzegovina could not be drawn into the same group. This procedure is only necessary if a ranking of the teams is required to determine the team which qualifies for the next stage. Futsal earned its reputation for building great players with its smaller fields and heightened intensity.

In each group, teams played against each other in a single round-robin format hosted by one of the participating teams. For the 2023–24 UEFA Futsal Champions League, the clubs’ entry round was determined by their UEFA futsal club coefficients, which took into account their performance from the previous three seasons. The National Sports Center is hosting Futsal Freeze this January for 8U to 19U athletes. The tournament will follow a 3v3 format rather than futsal’s standard 5v5, encouraging even more ball touches per player. Futsal is an exciting, fast-paced small sided soccer game that is played across the world and is officially recognized by both FIFA and UEFA. Bryan is an entrepreneur and the founder of The Soccer Handbook.

Futsal EURO quarter-final highlights: Spain 5-1 Slovakia

Select a dedicated defender, known as the last man, who stays back in case the other team gets the ball. Teams have squads of 14, of which five can be on the pitch at any one time, with rolling and unlimited substitutions. The small-sided game that is big in much of Europe and all over the world; our quick guide to watching futsal.

Under the Futsal Laws of the Game, Law 11 references offside as it does in association football, but only says that there is no offside in futsal. FIFA publishes its futsal rules as the ‘Laws of the Game’, in which each of the 17 ‘laws’ is a thematically related collection of individual regulations.

This referee is assisted by a second referee who typically watches over the goal lines or assists the primary referee with calls on fouls or plays. The decisions made by the referees are final and can only be changed if the referees think it is necessary and play has not restarted. There is also a third referee and a timekeeper who are provided with equipment to keep a record of fouls in the match.

AMF is the successor organization to the original governing body. However, talks between FIFA and AMF to reconcile governance were not successful. The most attended futsal match in history was played on 7 September 2014 on Mane Garrincha Stadium in Brazil’s capital Brasilia between Brazil and Argentina in front of 56,483 spectators.

He has been playing soccer since he was 8 years old and continues to actively play as well as coach youth soccer. Bryan’s mission is to help people enjoy the beautiful game throughout their lives.

What is futsal?

Read more about futsal here.

Jewellery is not allowed, nor are other items that could be dangerous to the player wearing the item or to other active participants. Nuno Dias of Sporting also became the first coach to record 50 competition wins with a single club (Jesús Velasco has 60 wins but with multiple teams). The final tournament is played at a centralized location and consisted of single-legged semi-finals, a third-place play-off, and final. If scores were level at the end of normal time, extra time was played, followed by a penalty shoot-out if the scores remained tied. Although futsal recently gained steam the United States, the game carries a history dating back to 1930. Juan Carlos Ceriani, a teacher in Montevideo, Uruguay, created the alternative five-a-side model of indoor soccer for young players to compete in YMCAs. Almost immediately, futsal proliferated throughout South America due to its availability throughout the year and in any weather condition.

The futsal court is much smaller than a soccer field. The surface of a futsal court should be a hard, smooth surface like asphalt, wood, or synthetic materials. There is a goal at each end of the court, and the surface of the court is divided into two halves by a center line. Futsal is a five-a-side format of football, and the only form of indoor football approved by world governing body FIFA.

FIFA Futsal World Cup Statistics

In the event of injury to the second referee, the third referee will replace the second referee. On Path B, the teams ranked 12th to 15th were in seeding position 1 and those ranked 20th to 22nd in position 2, along with one preliminary round winner. The remaining preliminary round winners were in a further pot to fill positions 3 and 4, while the best preliminary round runner-up is pre-allocated into Group 5 position 4. For this season, the top three-ranked associations are Portugal, Russia, and Spain. As the title holders are from Spain, the 4th ranked association, Kazakhstan, can enter two teams.