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Is Nigeria ready for the fascinating world of Futsal?
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November 4, 2022Is Nigeria ready for the fascinating world of Futsal?
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The love of sports in the country with football taking focal point.
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What we should know about futsal and how we play the game.
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How long has futsal been active with its interests across Africa and globally.
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What should be our next step for a unique sport like futsal in Nigeria.
The love of sports in the country, with football taking focal point
Imagine a community, a people who find common ground in this realm of sports. That is what we hold dear in this country with soccer (commonly known as football in these parts) taking the fore front as majority of her people express their love for this sport. Nigeria like every other nation has had its ups and downs in various sports at different points in time but the question remains, have we developed a process on building on our successes with these sports or are we just riding on luck? In present days, football hasn’t been so fond of us as a nation. In as much as we constantly unravel talents both home and in the diaspora, we seem to always fall short when we are tasked to develop and build structures. We have rather made a well deserved return to athletics and getting the recognition that followed. With interests in other sporting activities coming out of various corners, there is one (Futsal) which has gained attention across the world and this continent in recent times.
What we should know about futsal and how we play the game.
Futsal could be said to be the nephew or niece to football.
Futsal is an indoor ball sport that was put together in Uruguay around 1930. As the story is told, a teacher decided to marry the ideas of football and basketball as he selected a number of people to play football on a basketball court. This birthed the sport futsal and was made popular in 1989 when it was made a FIFA recognized sport.
Futsal has a lot of similarities to football but also a couple of similarities to basketball, handball and even water polo. Hence my idea of futsal being a nephew or niece to football. In as much as futsal has these similarities to these sports, the sport futsal is very much a sport on its own. Futsal has a number of rules governing the sport and set rules for the games that take place.
Futsal is usually played indoors with a court size of 40m by 20m (similar to the size of a handball court) and is played with a maximum of 5 players on the court per team as in the case of basketball. Similarly, to basketball also, the game of futsal is played in a fluid manner where all players are actively covering the entire court even though they are given roles. Futsal like in football have the goalkeeper, a defender, a winger, the pivot (known as the target man in football terms) and a universal (what we have come to know as a “free to roam” player in football). Futsal is very much now a globally recognized sport.
How long has futsal been active with its interests across Africa and globally
The football governing bodies FIFA and UEFA both showed interest in futsal and began organizing tournaments with FIFA putting the first futsal world cup in 1989 and UEFA putting together the first futsal European championship in 1999 with 50 European countries participating.
In recent times there has been the set up of European championships amongst club sides across Europe which is called the UEFA futsal champions league. Futsal hasn’t gotten a similar reception in Africa though. Is it because the love for football is so great? Or perhaps the idea of this unique sport isn’t well represented? The African futsal championship (now African futsal cup of nations) was first introduced in 1996.
Can you believe it? This was even before the first European championships took place.
What should be our next step for a unique sport like futsal in Nigeria.
Nigeria as a nation has only featured once and also has a couple of other African countries. They as a couple of other countries are left behind as this unique sport Futsal grows exponentially. It is well known that a lot of kids and football lovers in the country play a lot of what we label “5 aside football” that bears similarities to the game of futsal.
The question now is can we polish our interests and get talents that can enjoy this game with the rules and standards set?
Futsal is definitely a sport on the rise…
