With Futsal’s growing popularity and worldwide participation, participants are keen to know the pathways available to them should they decide to pursue the ultimate challenge of becoming a professional futsal player.I’m going to take you on an in-depth look into futsal’s relationship with the Olympics looking at the past, present and what the future holds.
So, Is Futsal An Olympic Sport? For the first time futsal was played at the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics, the competition was competed by ten boys teams and ten girls teams. Futsal has not yet been played in the Senior Olympics. At the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics The results for the boys’ competition were:
- Brazil – Gold Medal
- Russia – Silver Medal
- Egypt -Bronze Medal
Girls results were:
- Portugal – Gold Medal
- Japan- Silver Medal
- Spain- Bronze Medal
The futsal inclusion at the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics was a first for futsal. It was a giant leap forward for the international futsal community as the sport is growing in participation levels around the globe and its profile is rapidly expanding.
Summer Youth Olympics Reviewed
The Olympic debut for futsal was held in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Competed by ten teams in total with both male and female participation.
The male tournament had a total of 72,606 spectators with an average of 3,025 per match, futsal lived up to its action-packed reputation with an average of 7.25 goals per game.
Meanwhile, the female competition had 43,814 spectators attend with an average attendance of 1,826. There was an average of 9.42 goals per match.
There were a total of 100 boys and 100 girls who competed in the games, over 200 futsal Olympians in total.
Futsal really did do well in its debut, with over well over 110,000 people turning up to watch the competition it does signal to the Olympic official that there may be an appetite for futsal at future tournaments.
Futsal Is Big; It Deserves To Be A Staple Olympic Sport
Futsal has had its own world cup governed by FIFA since 1989, that’s 30 years of being on the world stage and competing with it’s an outdoor rival who have been banging out world cups since 1930.
Uefa also governs futsal in Europe, since 1996 they have been orchestrating the euro competition.
There is also another governing body of futsal, who in fact governed futsal worldwide well before FIFA.
The World Futsal Association (Asociación Mundial de Futsal — AMF) is the original governing body of futsal since 1971. The AMF has been coordinating futsal competitions worldwide including their own world cups and euro competitions.
When you sit back and look at the fact that futsal has two governing bodies with two world cups, two euro competitions and that’s not to mention the other regional cups at international and club level you have to ask yourself, how long until we see futsal at every world cup both junior and senior?
Futsal is considered by FIFA and UEFA to be the fastest growing indoor sport in the world, youth participation is massive. Some stats from around the globe:
New Zealand had 20,929 registered players in 2015
They also had 27,723 in School futsal programs
England is aiming for 200,000 registered futsal players by 2020. Currently there’s an estimated 1.5 million playing five a side matches weekly
Brazil has an estimated 30 million + Futsal participants
These are just a sample of some of the countries around the globe.
You’ don’t need to go far to find participation in futsal at both senior and youth levels in every country around the globe.
Why Futsal Should Get A Shot At The Senior Summer Olympics
As futsal is one of the world’s fastest-growing sports the Olympics have the opportunity to take advantage of the emergence by:
Attracting a new spectator base, as futsal is still growing there is a hunger for more televised competitions and live events
First time charm, when featured for the first time at the senior Olympics it’s likely the IOC will experience a surge in viewers and spectators attending
Feeding the demand, the Olympics have always been the pillar competitions for all athletes, in order for the Olympics to remain relevant to all major sports futsal will need to be considered at some stage in the very near future
Futsal, being a smaller and quicker sport with shorter playing times to its outdoor cousin allows for excitement. With many goals, touches, quick moves, and skills futsal can entertain many – even non-soccer fans.
How many times have you heard the argument of a soccer critic saying “how do you watch a game for 90 minutes with no goals?” or “the players fall over all the time and waste time faking injuries?”.
Those type of issues don’t occur in futsal, players are not tumbled down as often and when they are it’s quickly resolved. There are also goals galore, in most games, that make for quick and entertaining matches that keep the crowd on their feet and well satisfied.
If the Olympics can accommodate sports like rugby 7’s, then there is a definite argument for the inclusion of futsal.
Why Futsal May Have To Wait
FIFA is the official governing body of Football; it also governs many futsal competitions. FIFA is a well known, well oiled, well-funded brand.
Soccer is played in the Olympics, but anyone who knows soccer in the Olympics knows that it’s not held in the highest regards compared to the world cup, European championships or South American competitions on an international level.
In face soccer at the world cup usually doesn’t get the stars turning up, restricted to under 23 players alongside a few solid hands.
The problem is, not that futsal isn’t crucial to FIFA, soccer will always be more critical as it is more popular globally and brings in a lot more revenue.
There’s also the issue of venues; not all host nations have the infrastructure to accommodate futsal alongside other sports. It’s a big step forward to expect host nations to build out infrastructure to accommodate futsal when it would be a debutant with no track record of success the senior Olympics.
Related Questions
Is futsal a sport at the special Olympics? Futsal is widely represented in special Olympic tournaments all over the world. Futsal is a very inclusive sport that enables people from walks of life to participate regardless of sex, race, religion or disability.
As futsal is a social sport, it assists participants in building friendships maintaining social circles and building and maintaining a level of fitness. This is of particular importance to members of society who may be isolated without sports participation due to barriers that exist in other life scenarios.
Is Asociación Mundial de Futsal — AMF recognized as the governing body of Futsal? Although they were the original body that looked after futsal and still runs many competitions worldwide they are not recognized as futsal’s’ governing body worldwide. FIFA is recognized as the legitimate regulator of futsal world wide.
It doesn’t necessarily mean FIFA is the better-suited organization to watch over futsal, but they get the say in most big futsal decisions such as the Olympics, FIFA World Cup, and other regional tournaments.
Asociación Mundial de Futsal has been working hard for many more years at grassroots levels to grow the game of futsal worldwide, FIFA who came into the futsal arena many years afterward has been able to inherit a lot of this hard work and build upon it,
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