Futsal is a fast-paced, five-a-side form of indoor football played using a smaller, less bouncy ball. Unlike traditional five-a-side, you do not use the walls. It is seen as a development tool for the 11-a-side game. The small courts help develop closer ball control, faster thinking and better skills with more one-on-one situations.
Covid delayed Cassidy’s plans to launch a new project with former Jersey FA chief executive Jean-Luc Desbois last year, but everything is now in place for four junior fun weeks from 26 July to introduce youngsters to the game.
Adult leagues will begin on 1 October for 20 weeks, followed by youth leagues and minis introductory sessions.
Ultimately, the aim is to have sides representing Jersey in county competitions and against Guernsey.
‘Messi, Ronaldo … this is what they were brought up on so that’s why they are so good technically with the ball at their feet,’ said Desbois, Futsal Jersey’s managing director.
‘In Brazil they don’t play football until they are 12, until then it’s futsal. There’s a smaller ball, lower bounce, so the game is played a lot more on the floor.’
Some 50 teams, 34 of them youth, were lined up to play in 2020 and there is hope that similar numbers will sign up for the delayed launch.
Cassidy, Futsal Jersey’s director, said: ‘We believe it will become one of the biggest sports in the Island.
‘Futsal is a major game around the world, one of the fastest growing sports. I’ve been heavily involved in football for 20 years, it needed something new, something fresh.’
Full story in Thursday’s JEP.
