Futsal is an indoor version of football. Its name is derived from the Portuguese futebol de salão and the Spanish fútbol sala/de salón, which can be translated as 'indoor football'. In Italy this sport is better known as Calcetto or Calcio a Cinque while in Germany is called Hallenfussball, which is actually a little more different sport.
The origin of Futsal can be traced back to Montevideo, Uruguay, in 1930 when Juan Carlos Ceriani devised a five-a-side version of soccer for youth competion. The game is played on basketball-sized courts, both indoors and out without the use of sidewalls.
Futsal is played between two teams of five players, one of whom is the goalkeeper. In addition each team may have seven substitutes. Unlike some other forms of indoor football, the court is delimited by lines, and not walls or boards that players can use to rebound the ball. Futsal is played with a smaller ball with less bounce than a football. The emphasis is on improvisation, creativity and technique as well as ball control and passing in small spaces.(1)
In these days from 30 September to 19 October 2008 is taking place in the host cities of Rio de Janeiro and Brasilia the FIFA Futsal World Cup Brazil 2008.
As of september 22, 2008 the top 10 teams are:
- Brazil
- Spain
- Italy
- Portugal
- Russia
- Iran
- Argentina
- Ukraine
- Japan
- Serbia (2)
As you can notice between the top 10 countries misses the three times football World Cup champiom Germany. This fact has a simple explanation, Germany doesn´t have a national futsal team. In Germany this spectacular sport is not so popular as in the other big footballs countries like Brazil, Italy and Spain.
An important help to the development of this activity in East Germany has been made in the last years by the Futsal Association Little Italy in Berlin. Founded in 2005 by a group of Italian migrants, Little Italy is a Futsal Club that plays at moment in the German Landesliga. Since 2007 this multicultural Futsal Club is part of the Berlinian Football Club FC Internationale. Little Italy's traditional kit colours are royal blue shirts and socks with black shorts.
Little Italy is costantly looking for experienced reliable players from any country, to help his team improve. If you want to be part of this adventure and take part of the future success of the team please contact: osaiena@web.de
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(2) http://www.futsalworldranking.be/ futsal World Ranking
