Why Futsal, Football’s 5-a-side indoor variant, is perfect for us

It's been repeated ad nauseum that a lack of proper Football pitches is hampering the development of Football in the country. While that is certainly true, there is one easy way to skirt this obstacle. Play Futsal.

The word Futsal is derived from the Portuguese “Futbol de sala” or indoor Football. While there are several forms of indoor Soccer, Futsal is probably the most widely played variety worldwide.

According to my research, Futsal began in South America in the 1930s, but FIFA only codified the laws in the 1980s.

There are several important differences between Futsal and regular Football. First, the court is vastly smaller. The regulation Futsal court is pegged at 20 meters by 40 meters, whereas a Football field is usually at least 64 meters wide and 100 meters long.

The surface is usually made of interlocking plastic tiles, although it can be played on any number of smooth “sportcourt” surfaces available in the market. You can also play Futsal on wood, and although it generally isn't played competitively on concrete, casual games are played on cement all over the world.

ALSO READ: Pinoys attempt to break Basketball marathon record for Yolanda victims.

The goal frame is much smaller, with an opening two meters high and three meters wide. In regular Football, the goal opening is 7.32 meters wide and 2.44 meters high. The ball is different as well. It's a lot smaller than a regulation Size 5 ball, and is more like a Size 3 or 4 that a child might use. It's also been engineered to bounce much, much less than a normal ball.

Futsal is only played with five players per team, and a game lasts forty minutes long, with the clock winding down to zero instead of running up. There are unlimited flying substitutions, just like Basketball.

Do you hate the offside rule in Football? Then you'll love Futsal, which doesn't have it. And in Futsal, you kick-in instead of throwing in.

Futsal is played at a very high professional or semi-professional level in many countries, like Spain, Brazil, Italy, Iran, and Thailand. There has been a FIFA Futsal World Cup since 1989, with Spain and Brazil the only countries to have ever won it.

Why should we encourage Futsal in the Philippines? The reasons are many.

It can be played on any Basketball court. We may lack Football pitches but the Philippines is crawling with Basketball courts. It's not a coincidence that the minimum size of a Futsal court for non-International play is 15m by 25m, which fits inside a Basketball court that's 15m wide and 28m long.

All of a sudden there's a place to play Football in literally every barangay in the nation.

There was once a time when if you played Football in the Philippines you were either a rich kid from Metro Manila or a poor kid from the province. Futsal throws the door wide open to urban poor children who want to play the Beautiful Game but live in crowded areas.

ALSO READ: Roster of Philippine team for Asian Mens Volleyball Championship revealed.

It is better than regular Football for developing key skills in young players. I didn't say this, Thomas Roy, the PFF's German consultant, did. Roy says up to a certain age, Futsal is great for honing skills. And it's easy to see why. In Futsal, once you're in the game, you're only competing with nine other players for possession of the ball instead of twenty. So a player has more touches, which equals more experience and better skills.

“Futsal is turbocharged learning” says Leigh Gunn, the Filipino-Australian former Azkal who is an assistant to Jim Fraser in the Philippine U21 team. Gunn says that Futsal is part of the new curriculum for youth players of the Australian Football Federation.

The closed-quarters nature of the game also forces players to sharpen their ball-control skills and develop their touch on the ball. Plus, since the playing area is smooth, young players who play Futsal are less likely to pick up the bad habit of looking down on the ball while dribbling. I see some provincial players, weaned on lousy grass pitches, doing this in the UFL. Futsal is also, in general, less rough than Football.

Want more proof of how effective Futsal is in building Football skills? It's been widely reported that many top Brazilian Footballers like Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, and Neymar played Futsal extensively as youngsters. Same for top Spanish stars like Andres Iniesta, who played Futsal growing up.

Another reason why Futsal is better for children: the smaller ball is ideal for younger feet.

It's cheaper. Not only is a field needed to play Futsal, but neither do you need to buy spiked cleats, which cost from P2000 a pair upwards. Because Futsal is played on a flat surface, you can use any athletic shoe for recreational play, literally anything with a rubber sole. Basketball shoes are fine. Tennis shoes and Badminton shoes work. I've played Futsal with running shoes. Vans and Chucks are perfectly acceptable. There are dedicated Futsal shoes with pointy toes, but for poor kids in grassroots areas, those would be an unnecessary luxury.

And since a Futsal team, including subs, has fewer players than a Football side, a school or club can spend less on uniforms and other expenses.

Goals galore! According to this FIFA document, the average number of goals scored in the FIFA Futsal World Cup is 6.81. That's around double the number of the goals scored in FIFA's 11-a-side World Cup final stages. Mind you, a Futsal game is less than half as long as a Football match and has a much smaller goal frame.

ALSO READ: Pacquiao has to kill me to stop me - Bradley.

True, the Futsal goal is a smaller target, but unlike Football, where the ball spends a lot of time in the middle of the pitch far away from the goal, a Futsal ball is never more than a few strides and passes away from the back of the net.

Futsal matches are often entertaining, end-to-end, encounters with breathtaking counterattacks and slick passing sequences. It's a hoot to watch. And since there are so many goals, it can be more appealing to Filipino fans who cannot bear to sit through a 90-minute Football game that ends 1-0.

* * *

The Philippines does occasionally send a Futsal national team to regional competitions, but the results are usually not great. In last year's ASEAN championship, the Muzangs, our national side, defeated Brunei but lost heavily to Vietnam, Thailand, and Malaysia. Because we have no regular high-level Futsal league, the team was mostly composed of field players like Tating Pasilan and Jovan Simpron, and not Futsal specialists. In mature Futsal and Football countries, most players choose one of the disciplines and try not to switch back and forth.

Schools like Ateneo, UA&P and De La Salle Zobel have created Futsal programs but the dream of a sustainable, ongoing senior league continues to be elusive. The WNCAA does have a competition for ladies, however.

But Futsal can blossom in this country. I am told that it will be played in this summer's Palarong Pambansa. Futsal evangelists like Xarex Velasquez continue to organize tournaments. In May, UA&P will unveil an international regulation-sized Futsal court, which is believed to be the first in the country. This will be a massive boost for the game in the Philippines.

I am hoping that the UAAP and NCAA can include Futsal in their calendars, preferably in the first semester during the rainy season. It would be great if the UFL had a small mini-tournament as well. Last year Globe hosted a small tournament that a team from Green Archers United won.

But the biggest opportunity for Futsal to make a difference is in the grassroots.

Last year we started a Football/Futsal program in Western Bicutan, Taguig. Thankfully there is a concrete, roofed volleyball court that didn't have Basketball goals, perfect for Futsal. P25,000 was spent on steel goal frames and nets. For the price of a high-end smartphone, a Futsal facility was born where there once was none. Now the kids play every Saturday morning and on other times when they can. Oftentimes there are as many as fifty kids of various ages playing on Saturdays.

I'd love to see grassroots Futsal programs all over the Philippines, with the talented kids having the option of graduating to the 11-a-side game in schools and clubs.

With Futsal, planting the seeds of Football anywhere can be easy, inexpensive, and fun. It's time to push this version of the game in every corner of our country.

To learn more about Futsal in the Philippines, visit www.pilipinasfutsal.com. A great resource on the game for young players is www.futsal4kids.com . Special thanks to Miguel David for his invaluable help with this article.

Follow Bob on Twitter @PassionateFanPH.