A Festival of Futsal

The FA National Youth Futsal Festival
Saturday 27 June & Sunday 28 June 2009
The English Institute Of Sport, Sheffield

This weekend sees 80 junior Futsal teams head to the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield to compete in The FA National Futsal Youth Festival.

Teams of both boys and girls, at U10, U12, U14 and U16 level from all over the country will be in South Yorkshire for what is the national showcase event in Futsal for the younger players.

Over the last five years, The FA has been developing the awareness and understanding of the game of Futsal across England and a particularly important area that The FA has focused upon is developing the game within schools and junior clubs.

Subsequently, The FA National Youth Futsal Festival, supported by UMBRO, was established to provide an event that could inspire young people to take-up and play Futsal on a regular-basis. 

The aims and intentions of the Festival are to not just provide a one-off Futsal event that young people enjoy and then forget, but to provide a goal to encourage schools, clubs and young people to play Futsal throughout the year with the climax being the opportunity to attend the National Futsal Festival.

The teams who have been awarded places at the Festival are generally those who can demonstrate that they have been playing competitive Futsal throughout the year and are amongst the best Futsal teams in their local area. Typically, most teams that are playing in this year’s event have qualified after winning a county league that has been played throughout the year and been organised by their County FA or School Sports Partnerships.

Subsequently, The FA National Youth Futsal Festival is not necessarily designed to be elitist and to identify the very best youth Futsal clubs; more importantly the Festival’s primary role is to act as a catalyst to stimulate and support the ongoing youth development of Futsal across the country. 

The Festival in itself will not necessarily lead to an increase or improvement in young Futsal players, but it can play a pivotal role in encouraging schools, County FAs and other partners to establish sustainable Futsal development programmes that ensure Futsal is played by young people throughout the rest of the year.

However, putting the serious and the dull elements of the long-term development of Futsal to one-side – there is no doubting that The FA National Youth Futsal Festival remains an extremely fun and enjoyable day for everyone involved, particularly for the young players.