Futsal in England

Futsal is a growing sport in England.

England has a national team run by The Football Association. The team was formed in 2003 and England were one of the last major sporting nations in Europe to have a national team.

The FA run a three region national league system, the FA Futsal League. It began in February 2008, and was the first official national league in England.

Futsal has become increasingly popular in England among both adults and young children still at school, and among university students.

The first futsal league in England was formed in 1990, the Pendle Futsal League based in Lancashire. Outside of Pendle, during the 1990s the first few futsal teams started to emerge in England, although there were very few teams and they had to travel to mainland Europe to take part in tournaments. It wasn't until the 2000s when futsal began to take off in England. A Grimsby Futsal League was founded and later, in the summer of 2002 a tournament was played in Wirral. In October 2002, the first international tournament in England was held in Chester, the British Isles Nations Futsal Cup. It was hosted by Tranmere Victoria, with four other teams representing Ireland, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Gibraltar. Shortly after the tournament Tranmere Victoria played a friendly match against Iran. In November 2002, an English Futsal Championship tournament took place and was won by Pendle Santos. Two weeks later a pilot national tournament was organised by the Sheffield Hallamshire FA. Ten teams took part and there was also a women's invitation match. Tranmere Victoria won the tournament and as a result were later chosen by the FA to be the first team to represent England in the UEFA Futsal Cup. Both the FA and FIFA had representatives at the tournament, there were also members of the British Universities Sport’s Association present. The future of futsal in England was discussed and the FIFA representative stated that they would support the FA in developing the refereeing and coaching programmes necessary for the development of the game in England. The possibility of establishing a national team was also discussed. In early 2003 it was revealed that the first official national cup was to be organised by the FA and would take place during the summer. Regional qualifying leagues were set up independently of the FA in Sheffield, Pendle, Wirral, London, Cheltenham and Grimsby, with the winners and runners-up qualifying for the FA Futsal Cup. Prior to the tournament was the 2003 London Cup. The first FA Futsal Cup took place in July at the Army Physical Training Centre in Aldershot, with teams divided into two groups of six. An invitation was also extended to an Army team, as the Army Football Association. Sheffield Hallam won the cup and would enter as England’s representatives in the 2004–05 UEFA Futsal Cup. In 2003, an England select team travelled to their first world championships as a pilot for international competition. Up against some the best in the world, a team of semi-professional and university players took part in games against Iran, Uzbekistan and Indonesia.