The history of futsal

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 the capital
Montevideo.

Juan Carlos Ceriani, an Argentinian physical education instructor living there at the
time observed many youngsters practising 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 came about.

Borrowing from the rules of water polo, handball and basketball, Ceriani drew up the
original rules of game, which were quickly be adopted across South America. In
1965 the Confederacion Sudamericana de Futbol de Salon (South American Futsal
Confederation) was formed, consisting of Uruguay, Paraguay, Peru, Argentina and
Brazil, the latter having quickly developed into a hotbed for the sport.

Futsal crossed the Atlantic to Europe along with the many Spanish and Portuguese
immigrants returning from South America at that time. The continued growth in the
sport then led to the foundation of FIFUSA, the Federacion Internacional de Futbol
de 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, decided
jointly to incorporate futsal into the global football family.

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

In January 1986, Galan Torres and Bonetti began work in earnest. Using football's
Laws of the Game as a template, they made the necessary modifications for the
five-a-side version. Among other decisions taken was one to have the pitch and goal
size 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 period
of 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 the
Spanish 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 trial
championship. After received approval, Porta convinced his colleague, the Hungarian
Gyorgy Szepezi, that the Hungarian Football Association should organise the first
test 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.
Shortly afterwards, at a meeting in the old RFEF offices in Madrid attended by
representatives from various countries, the Laws were modified further to take into
account observations from Hungary. It was then that the RFEF put themselves
forward to host the second trial tournament. Their request was approved and the
event was held in La Coruna, El Ferrol and Santiago de Compostela in February
1987. 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 the
competition, inviting Chile, Peru, Argentina, Belgium, the Netherlands, Portugal,
Spain, the USA and Paraguay. The host city was Brasilia and it was Paraguay who
were eventually crowned champions. The Laws had more than met expectations,
and so it only remained for them to be officially approved by FIFA's Executive
Committee.

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 fledged
discipline was to give it its own World Cup. Blatter responded by throwing his weight
behind the organisation of the inaugural FIFA Futsal World Cup.

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

The Seleção also won the next two editions, in Hong Kong in 1992 and Spain in
1996. However, it would be the Spaniards who deservedly relieved the Brazilians of
their crown at Guatemala 2000, before successfully defending it four years later in
Chinese Taipei. The FIFA Futsal World Cup is know the fourth longest-running FIFA
tournament.

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