Futsal, is currently one of the most popular sports, especially among young people, both abroad and domestically. This sport is a ball game that can be played by two teams with five members each. Each team must try to get the ball into the opponent’s goal to win the match. In addition to the main players, there are also reserve players for each team. Futsal is played indoors with lines as the boundaries of the futsal field.
The term ‘futsal’ is an international term that comes from Spanish or Portuguese, namely futbol (soccer) and sala (indoor). In addition, futsal has many different terms in several places.
History of Futsal
Initially, futsal was popularized by Juan Carlos Ceriani in Montevideo, Uruguay in 1930. This ball game was considered unique so that it attracted attention throughout South America, especially in Brazil. Even many Brazilian players developed their skills in this ball game and became their signature style outdoors.
Take Pele, one of the famous soccer stars from Brazil who developed his talent in futsal. In addition, Brazil became the center of world futsal. This game is now played under the auspices of the Federation Internationale de Football Association throughout the world, from Europe, America, Africa, Asia and Oceania.
Paraguay was the first country to win the first futsal championship held in 1965 and won the first South American Cup. The next futsal match was held until 1979 and Brazil managed to become the defending champion in the match. In 1980 and 1984, Brazil also managed to become the champion and defend its title and won the first Pan American Cup.
FIFUSA played an important role in organizing the first futsal world championship in Sao Paulo in 1982. In that match, Brazil won first place. At that time, FIFUSA members had not joined FIFA. FIFUSA members joined FIFA in 1989. At the Second World Championship held in 1985 in Spain, Brazil again won first place. However, at the Third World Championship held in Australia in 1988, Brazil was defeated by Paraguay.
In December 1985, the first international futsal match was held at Sonoma State University in Rohnert Park, California, USA.