The brilliant Futsal facilities at St. George's Park will host the proceedings as Baku United, Manchester, Loughborough Students and Helvecia battle it out with each other to determine who will be crowned the best Futsal side in England.
The FA National Futsal League
Grand Finals
Saturday 31 May 2014
St. George's Park
By Billy Taylor
And the winners will have the chance to represent the country in the UEFA Futsal Cup next season against some of Europe's greatest teams.
Baku United are the reigning champions and have breezed through to the Finals having been victorious in every single league match this season bar one, proving to everyone that they are just as dangerous as they were last campaign.
The team is comprised of many different nationalities and was founded in 2008 by Azerbaijan students in the Odlar Yurdu Organisation. They are England's first professional Futsal side and have been fearless all season, scoring 115 goals in the Southern regional division and have also shown their attacking prowess in the Super League too.
Manchester also reached the Futsal Grand Finals with similar ease. After becoming champions of the North Division, having only dropped four points throughout the season, Frank Chiarella's team won their first three games of Group A and qualified after an empathic 13-1 victory over Birmingham away from home.
This will be Manchester's second Grand Finals in three years following their strong 2011-12 campaign, where they were unfortunate not to have a place in the final. The Northern Division champions' main strength is that they are defensively tight, having kept three clean sheets during the regional stages and have only conceded nine times in their Super League encounters.
Loughborough Students will probably be considered the surprise inclusion and are competing in their first Futsal Grand Finals since 2009. The university-based outfit came close to qualifying last year but after obtaining third place in the Midlands Division this year, Loughborough stated their early intentions of reaching the four-team tournament with an impressive 6-1 win versus Southern Divison's FC Baltic in the opening game of the Super League.
Helvecia won the Grand Finals in 2012
They then went on to record high-scoring victories in the two fixtures against Liverpool to show that they are not to be underestimated in this competition.
Helvecia were the last team to qualify from the Super League after they were involved in a tight battle to claim first in Group C. The five-time Futsal League champions manage to defeat rivals Oxford City 2-1 in the last week of the Super League, knowing that a loss would have resulted in their elimination.
Last season proved to be difficult for the Southern Division outfit as they lost out in the final to Baku United, signalling the end of their monopolisation of English Futsal. Coach Ronaldo Negrao will be fully aware that this year's Grand Finals will be the perfect opportunity to send a message to their closest rivals that they are still the dominant side in the league, as well as the most decorated.
Semi-Final 1:Manchester Futsal Club vs. Loughborough Students
Semi-Final 2: Baku United vs. Helvecia Futsal Club
The semi-finals will take place at 12noon and 1.30pm. The third-fourth place match and the Final will follow at 4.30pm and 6pm respectively.
Tickets for the Grand Finals can be purchased by clicking here.
