Futsal History

Today it’s played in over 100 countries, and gets credit for the success of such soccer superhumans as Ronaldo, Messi, and Neymar.

But back when Uruguayan teacher Juan Carlos Ceriani invented futsal around 1930, his goal was humble: create a game his students could play in a small space, in any weather.

The new game needed to work inside a Montevideo YMCA, since Ceriani, like so many big-city teachers, lacked a full-sized outdoor field.

So he combined soccer’s beautiful foot skills, with basketball’s small teams and quick, exciting pace, and the small court and goal size of South American handball.  The result was brilliant: a new sport that was fun both to watch and to play.

Soccer was already highly popular in Uruguay–imagine this tiny country with fewer people than today’s Brooklyn won the 1930 World Cup, and gold medals in the 1924 and 1928 Summer Olympics! So naturally, Uruguayans took to futsal quickly, both as a way to train for regular soccer, and as a sport in its own right.  

As more people embraced the new sport, they realized it gave them an edge in grace, speed, and daring…not to mention, the reflexes of a cat!

FUtsal reaches brazil, and brazil is never the same

Through the YMCA, futsal soon began to spread across the rest of South America, especially in Brazil. That trademark Brazilian “jogo bonito” style? Most players honed it on the futsal court.  Name any Brazilian soccer great, from Pele to Ronaldo Nazario, and chances are, they learned soccer by playing futsal. “Futsal was important in helping me develop my ball control, quick thinking, passing,” Pele once said about the skills leading Brazil to three world cup championships (1958, 1962, and 1970).

Today, futsal is still one of Brazil’s most popular sports. Some believe it’s actually #1, since the smaller court size makes it easier to play than full-sized soccer in most of Brazil’s crowded cities. 

FUTSAL’s REACH GROWS

Futsal’s first international competition came in 1965, with the South American Cup, dominated by–no surprise–Brazil.  Slowly the sport reached Europe and North America, where finally in 1981, U.S. Futsal was founded.

Today, under FIFA, the sport is played around the world on all continents (umm actually we’re not so sure about Antarctica, but that’s what US Futsal’s website says!). Since 1988, it has its own World Cup, and its own cult-favorite stars like Brazil’s Falcão and Ricardinho. 

There’s also a UEFA Futsal Championship, which started in 1997, and typically is won by Spain (they hold six championship cups!)

And why the name?

In the mid-80’s, Alexander Para, head of the U.S. Minisoccer Federation, didn’t want to scare schools saying he would play “soccer” in their gyms. According to U.S. Futsal, schools imagined a regular soccer ball bouncing everywhere and breaking windows (understandable, if you’ve ever dealt with an eager kid determined to juggle a soccer ball in your living room = terrifying).

He also wanted a name that would be easy to say in many languages, a universal brand like “Nike” or “Kodak”.

So Para took the Spanish name “futbol de salon” and turned it into “futsal”.  The then-president of FIFA, João Havelange, announced to the world: “Soccer that is played in reduced areas called SalonSoccer or Five-a-Side, shall from now on be called FUTSAL.” The rest, as they say, is history. 

Sources: U.S. Futsal and U.S. Youth Futsal