Futsal in England: five hits and a glaring missed opportunity
Bloomsbury’s Calvin Dickson (centre) lifts the trophy for winning the NFS grand finals playoff in a double celebration with the club’s women’s Tier 1 team at St George’s Park Photograph: Carl Wilkinson/NFS
IT’S BEEN a big year for futsal.
As the new season's preliminary round of the Uefa futsal Champions League draws closer – with O Mágico himself, Ricardinho, back in Europe to grace the big stage again – it's time to reflect on the hits and misses of the 2022/23 season, on and off the court, with a keen eye devoted to England in particular.
Things have moved fast in a country where the sport has been kicked about with impunity arguably more consistently than the nation’s finest international players have enjoyed the chance to fizz a size-4 ball around the 40x20 court in competitive action since the first FA team was formed back in 2003.
But put all that historical frustration aside for a few minutes. Take a time out. Breathe. And fill your lungs with the rarefied air. Whisper it (not while inhaling, of course) but that lightly sodden summer breeze carries a fresh gust of guarded optimism in the 20th anniversary year of the FA embracing futsal.
In fact, careful scouting over the 2022/23 season has unearthed a decent starting five of big wins for the sport – and one absolute sitter of a missed opportunity, naturally.
1) Born again
THE EARLY Christmas present. Just perhaps a couple of decades late. On Tuesday December 20th, England Futsal was born.
Anyone remotely interested in the sport will know full well that the FA crudely axed its national teams and futsal pathway at the start of the Covid pandemic to save about £900,000 a year – a total sum just north of the annual cost of two chief executive salaries.
England Futsal’s emergence brought to an end that torrid two-and-a-half-year period of stagnation and FA stonewalling. The association’s euphoric press release hailed it as a “new independent venture, which will partner with the FA over an initial five-year period, with the aim of providing long-term stability and growth for Futsal in this country”.
Stephen Mitchell, its independent chair, vowed to listen, learn and enact a plan to help the game “flourish”.
Whatever is achieved in the coming years (more on this below) let's hope the ambitious plan for growth involves seizing one huge and glaring opportunity for a quick and easy win.
It’s surely time for the FA to finally cut the cap.
The absurd capital F for futsal has gone on way too long. As wonderful as “Futsal” is, it shouldn't be bigger than football: futsal = football.
So please, FA, do the right thing. It’s for the good of the Game.
With the former England head coach Mike Skubala (now a first-team coach at Leeds United FC) in the background – as England Futsal Ltd’s key shareholder, or Person of Significant Control in company-speak – its an entity steeped in futsal knowledge.
Although the company was actually incorporated in 2015, what's its job now?
Basically, it's running the show on behalf of the FA, creating the sort of arm’s length separation from the association – which clearly doesn't want to spend a penny more on the sport that it needs to – that might well prove sustainable for the game. Graeme Dell, chair of the FA’s all-powerful futsal committee, said in December England Futsal was the “official delivery partner for the format”.
A sort-of Deliveroo-style operation for the sport, perhaps.
If that is the case, what sort of service and tasty fare is going to be available for the “customers” to enjoy?
2) The appetiser
“WE ARE in the process of finalising exciting plans for futsal,” cooed the reply from the FA spokesperson. “Which involve working with the sport’s wider stakeholders and include England representative teams at under-19s level.”
What? “Teams,” they said. Plural. Not singular. Was it a typo? A mere slip of the keyboard?
Excuse the second grammar lesson. But attention to fine details matter. Especially in futsal.
This was, of course, the pithy response to my request for clarification after Uefa had released a list of teams entering qualification for the u19s men’s 2023 Euros – a roll call that included England, to much surprise.
The five-letter word ending in S said much, much more than confirming Uefa was spot-on that the u19s men were back up and running.
The Guardian revealed the imminent arrival of an England women’s under-19s futsal team
An England women’s u19s team was imminent too, as the next response to my subsequent plea for clarification acknowledged.
Finally.
Which is why this story headlined FA’s plan for women’s futsal national team will be ‘game changer’ made its way into the world’s leading news organisation for futsal coverage.
After all the grand promises in the glossy 2018 Fast Forward with Futsal document, the Covid cuts had demolished all hope. Of the home nations, only Northern Ireland entered a women’s team for qualifiers for the 2023 Women’s Euros.
So the forthcoming England women’s u19s team will bring parity with the men’s (see below) and help capitalise (not in a grammatical sense) on the growing strength and depth of women’s (and girls’) futsal in England, while nodding to the rising prominence of women’s football in the FA’s remit. Leanne Skarratt, a women’s and girls’ coach at Manchester Futsal Club, hailed it as “a game changer for women’s futsal in England”.
But since then, nothing much. Until 17th July, when a job advert went out for a voluntary women’s performance coach – alongside a men’s equivalent and a lead performance coach.
It’s unclear whether this will be the team head coach.
But the FA wants the role filled before the start of the 2023/24 season.
The FA’s latest plan involves running a “pilot” season for the u19s women, including friendly matches, in preparation for entering Fifa and Uefa-sanctioned tournaments – should European or world u19s women’s competitions become a reality, of course.
My hunch is that a swift announcement of more detail on this “pilot” season plan is way more likely should coach Sarina Wiegman’s Lionesses make history by lifting the football World Cup, a triumph that would leave the FA basking in the warm self-congratulatory glow of achievement for supporting women’s right to kick a ball about unfettered by decades of institutional discrimination as second-class citizens. Bit cynical, perhaps. But hey, that’s football (and therefore futsal).
England under-19s are back, with a women’s team imminent too, but will any future senior internationals get the chance to join Doug Reed and Luke Ballinger on the centurion list?
3) The (late) main course
ALTHOUGH REVEALED in the September Guardian story announcing the women’s team, the returning u19s men’s team didn’t get going until after England Futsal’s December birth. They quickly made up for lost time, however.
Sion Kitson, former Wales international and England senior team assistant coach, took on the interim head coach role. Ben Tadmor and Pete Vallance slotted back into the fold. Meanwhile, Stuart Cook, the finest England player in a generation, agreed to combine his coaching duties at Bolton futsal club in the National Futsal Series with an assistant coach position.
With just weeks to blend the ingredients, the coaches knocked up a tasty-looking squad that delivered success on a plate (via a big thermal Deliveroo bag, of course) as the players powered through the preliminary qualifying round with three wins out of three.
The main round slot was secured when hosts Lithuania failed to beat Malta, triggering delirium among the watching young players, led impressively by six youngsters from Bloomsbury, including skipper Jamie Brooker, goalkeeper Dylan Meranda and Oliver Kaye. York’s Jed Devine, Kent United’s Harry Sikirwayi and Hartpury’s Ollie Desborough also shone.
The main round in Italy proved a step too far. Two defeats – a 6-2 to Turkey in the first game and a narrow 4-3 loss to the Czech Republic – and a dramatic draw against hosts Italy (secured with this equaliser in the dying seconds) meant England bowed out with a creditable record. The question of whether a full senior team will be reinstated any time remains unanswered.
As for the future, I understand that the FA’s latest tentative plan involves reintroducing the men’s senior team (and starting a full women’s team) if the two-year trial of the u19s is seen as a success.
The sheer size and vagueness of this IF is impossible to overestimate. After all, one woman’s (or man’s) astonishing success on a shoestring £900,000 a year budget can be another person’s idea of an egregious failure due to a century-old indoor sport revered as a “laboratory for improvisation” with a ball at the feet offering no more than a “limited link” to elite-level trophy-gathering in a different sport. So, again, there are zero guarantees. Which is why you didn’t find out about this development a couple of minutes ago at the top of this analysis.
As all the most famous delivery operations state clearly in the T&Cs, “delivery dates” are merely “indications of estimated delivery time” and not a binding contractual obligation. That’s the gig economy for you.
Bloomsbury’s goalscoring New Zealand star Dayna Manak in the Tier 1 playoff final victory at St George’s Park – a day of double celebration for the club Photograph: Carl Wilkinson/NFS
4) Full Bloom
ON THE subject of Bloomsbury’s rising stars, the senior teams stole the show in the National Futsal Series, claiming the title in both men’s and women’s Tier 1. The women edged out fierce London rivals Helvécia 3-2 in the playoff grand final after defeating Bolton to lift the cup. The men, led by the impressive head coach, Juan Tapia Owens, sealed the all-important Uefa Champions League slot by defeating 2022 losing finalists Manchester Futsal Club in the showdown at St George’s Park to cap a weekend of action screened live on BT Sport.
“This is a chance to show our style and identity … to show what British futsal is all about”
Their reward? A trip to Athens in August to slug it out with hosts Doukas SAC, Moldovan champions BSC Nistru Chişinău, and Ireland’s Blue Magic Dublin. Tapia Owens told me victory was the culmination of several years’ planning since ProFutsal was founded by England international Jon Kurrant in 2015. “When ProFutsal merged with Bloomsbury in 2021, the aspiration and goal was always to win the [Tier 1] league and create something different,” said Tapia Owens. “We wanted something sustainable for futsal in England by pushing on the standards as much as we can and hopefully other clubs follow suit.”
The debut in the Champions League brought a “great opportunity” to bring “a different squad than what other teams have taken in the past”, he added. With a squad comprising “predominantly British players, with a few Kiwis and an Australian”, it was a chance to showcase “what British futsal is all about” and stamp “our style and identity at the top level of European competition”, he said.
Two high-profile recruits from rivals Helvecia just weeks before the qualifiers augment these endeavours. Goalscoring winger Liam Palfreeman, one of the few England futsal internationals with experience as a professional overseas, and rising star Camilo Restrepo give Bloomsbury a welcome boost of extra quality just weeks before the tournament.
As for Athens in an August – during the longest heatwave the country has ever seen – Tapia Owens remains icy cool. “We can’t complain that futsal’s an indoor sport, that’s for sure,” he said. “But from my own experiences playing in Champions League games [for Cardiff City and Cardiff University], I know it can be very hot inside too. It all depends on the air-conditioning. It will be a tough physical test for us given we’re coming from the British climate, but we’ll adapt and work hard to manage game time and players’ legs over the five days.
“And the other teams have to play in the same conditions, so we’ll be fine.”
Scotland’s champions, Perth Youth Futsal Saltires, will head to Slovakia in group E. Meanwhile, Belfast Sparta face a trip to Tirana, Albania, in group H.
But Wales’s Cefn Druids won’t be joining them as things stand. Their vastly experienced coach Richie Jones told me the team were being stopped from competing due to a dispute between Cefn Druids Football Club and the association over unpaid fines.
“We’ve earned the right to play,” said Jones, who, by the way, is in a tiny select group of two British futsal coaches to have won a Champions League qualifying match – a 5-2 triumph for Cefn Druids against Israel’s Dolphins Ashdod in 2021. Two years earlier, Scott Ballinghall led Scottish champions Perth Youth Futsal Saltires to victory over Lynx from Gibraltar. Tapia Owens might well make it three out in Athens.
“We’re sitting here ready, waiting to play,” Jones said. “You could say our bags are packed. But until the FAW permit us, we can’t go anywhere.”
“We’re ready to play in the Champions League. But until the FA Wales permit us, we can’t go”
Uefa are believed to have opened the door for the FAW to treat the futsal team as separate to the football club and allow Jones and the squad to compete. The FAW was approached for comment but has yet to respond.
Back at Bloomsbury, as well as both men’s and women’s teams completing the double, the golden season yielded another first.
Mary Pacitti – who also coaches Stevenage Women to T2 league glory with Mario Petruccio – led the T3 Boomsbury C team to victory in the National Futsal League playoff plate final, sealing her place in history as the first female coach in England to oversee a men’s team – let alone win the title.
A 12-game unbeaten run culminated in the final victory and a congratulatory hug from her son, Michael, who plays for the team.
All in a season’s work for Bloomsbury Futsal, the family club leading English futsal on a new path.
5) All aboard
READING TO Maidenhead. It’s only about 10 miles, but OMG … the delays, the cancellations, the price of tickets. All to pay for endless uncertainty. Sometimes it feels like it’s 100 miles …
Sorry, just had to get that out. Feel much better now. This isn’t about trains, of course. It’s not Twitter (or X, for the younger readers) so it’s not a blind rant either.
Looking towards the future: Fernando Silva’s Reading Royals are now Maidenhead Futsal
Photograph: Maidenhead United FC
Back to the futsal.
The British heatwave in June brought huge news from leafy Berkshire as Maidenhead was announced as the destination for a group of passengers onboard the futsal train departing Reading on the right track: the players, coaches and fans of Reading Royals Futsal Club.
Founder and women’s team head coach Fernando Silva’s club agreed a merger with Maidenhead United FC, whose football team sits proudly in the fifth tier of English football.
Some people turn their noses up and football/futsal combos. I’m not one of them. It’s hugely exciting. And it holds out hope of greater exposure for futsal, especially given that the new men’s senior team will make their competitive debut in the top flight of English futsal as Maidenhead United (vs York on 10 September, if you’re wondering).
Men’s team head coach, Rich Oxley, told me it was a “very exciting venture” – and that was before they announced the triumphant return of former youth and senior team players Joe Huxter and Harry Tozer after successful stints at Manchester Futsal Club.
Harry Tozer and Joe Huxter in Reading Royals colours in 2018 Photograph: Fernando Silva
The move to Maidenhead is “fantastic for futsal for all the right reasons”, added Oxley. “After 10 years as Reading Royals Futsal Club we understand the limitations of our ability to continue to grow the game and keep pace in a rapidly developing landscape.”
Maidenhead United offered a perfect opportunity to ensure Reading Royals did not “stand still, or worse”, he added. The new partners have a “shared ambition to develop futsal” in the south-east of England.
For Silva, it’s the latest chapter of a story that began in England in 2010 – as a grassroots football coach seeking to expose youngsters to the game he played back in Portugal – and developed into Reading Royals Futsal Club.
There’s a personal sadness for me. Royals are the first proper futsal team I ran around aimlessly on court for, nearly a decade ago in the Berkshire league set up and run by Silva as he helped turn Reading into a hotbed of futsal.
I’ve looked on in awe – and done my bit as a friend and supporter of the club – as Silva built up the academy and embraced the women’s game.
His passion and dedication to the sport, from the youth grassroots to the elite, were recognised in 2019 when French club ACCS adopted Royals as its first overseas partner club.
Reading Royals, in the early days when they weren’t quite so choosy about who played Photograph: Fernando Silva
Unfortunately, the Covid pandemic scuppered grand plans for Royals players to share the stage – and resources – with Silva’s fellow Porto-native Ricardinho on board the ACCS bandwagon. Once the world emerged from the pandemic, the wheels had fallen off the money-laden ACCS express (leaving the Reading Royals team stranded somewhere between Reading and Maidenhead stations).
The current team of Oxley, and his assistant, the New Zealander Sam Masterson, are supported by player-coach, Brayden Lissington, a Kiwi international, and established stars Seth Burkett, Josh Gillespie and captain, Phil Lant.
Their success in spreading the gospel of futsal has been matched by a desire to keep youngsters in the game. Pivot Noah Joyner and winger Scott Hargreaves are just two examples of first-team players who have played for most of the 10 years since Royals were founded.
Oh, yeah. Max Kilman. I couldn’t possibly write a piece about futsal and Maidenhead United without mentioning Kilman, who – as the whole world knows – played national league futsal and starred for England while during a non-league football career that included a spell at the Magpies of Berkshire.
6) The open goal
IT WAS all going so well. England Futsal’s stated desire to “listen, learn and enact a plan” to grow futsal in England had delivered an assortment of tasty offerings: the men’s u19s, a bout of transparent – and much-welcomed – interaction on social media, the rich promise of a women’s team. Then suddenly, like a gift from the futsal gods, Brazil say they’re coming to town.
Yes, Brazil. The mighty Ferrão’s Brazil. The seleção, coached by the revered Marquinhos Xavier. The five-times winners of the Fifa futsal men’s World Cup, architects of the game and unrivalled breeding ground for players honed on the futsal court.
England Futsal seized the moment.
Chair Stephen Mitchell toasted the news on Twitter and added “collaborate and share” to his list of stated intentions when former Helvécia and Escolla head coach Leandro Afonso announced the event at Wycombe Leisure Centre in Buckinghamshire.
Pete Sturgess, renowned veteran FA talent whisperer and former England men’s team head coach, told his 16,000 followers to expect to be blown away by the “the technical ability and physical literacy of the players” on show. “Not to be missed if you love Futsal,” he declared. Putting the capital F to one side for a moment, it’s a message rightly celebrated online.
After this initial embrace by FA futsal committee members and England Futsal, the “collaboration” appeared to cease. The planned all-star team to compete against Marquinhos Xavier’s Brazil team was axed.
The FA reportedly insisted the visitors play the National Futsal Series champions Helvécia instead. This makes sense, given the rules on sanctioned games and the need for affiliation to the FA.
But victims of this premature announcement of an all-stars team with no right to take to the court included the England deaf futsal star, John Atkinson, who revealed his torment at missing out on “an opportunity of a lifetime” in an emotional video statement. “It’s the FA’s decision and I have to accept that,” he said.
So Brazil arrived in April, greeted by hundreds of futsal fans, players and coaches eager to soak up every minute of the four-day Easter training camp in preparation for two international encounters against Spain the following week.
It wasn’t cheap for fans and coaches to attend. But then it was an opportunity to see Brazil’s futsal superstars up close and personal.
On matchday, a crowd of about 600 turned up. Perched courtside among them was a a hat-trick of Premier League Brazilian football stars. Tottenham Hotspur’s Richarlison, Emerson Royal and Lucas Moura brought a welcome burst of Premier League stardust to Wycombe.
The game finished 8-2 to Brazil. Ten goals, a feast of futsal action – including this classy strike from recent Bloomsbury recruit Camilo Restrepo – but, whichever way it’s viewed, one huge, glaring opportunity was spurned.
Imagine the fervour if the FA had arranged for the visiting seleção to play England’s exuberant u19s or a National Futsal Series representative squad. It’s the sort of glamour-game England needs to try to break the glass ceiling keeping futsal in a place deep beneath the notoriously blinkered gaze of the FA’s top brass.
If England vs Sweden at London’s Copper Box in 2015 could attract 1,400 fans, what crowd would Brazil draw?
Meanwhile, the FA declined to explain why the communications with the Brazil trip organisers appeared to halt abruptly or to comment on claims that the futsal committee and England Futsal had “boycotted” the event.
I understand that a more “formal” approach to the FA next time is likely to be received more favourably.
Let’s hope that if Brazil do come again, the talk at England Futsal of “listening” and “learning” involves a few practice sessions on taking simple chances, the efficient and predatory conversion of open goals into small but crucial victories.
And most pertinently the speedy delivery of hot and tasty dishes for all futsal fans (and some freshly converted football supporters) to feast on.
*This article was amended on 5 August to make clear that Perth Youth Futsal Saltires coach Scott Ballinghall shares the honour with Cefn Druids’ Richie Jones of being a British coach to have led a team to victory in a futsal Champions League qualification match.
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IT’S BEEN a big year in English futsal. On the resurgent international scene and domestically. But there was also a huge missed opportunity in a year of significant victories for the sport