Best Fut Forward

The cream of the world’s indoor football stars are heading to Sport Central this week.

The Futsal International Four Nations Tournament – backed by the Football Association – kicks off in June, and hosts England will be bidding to bring home the silverware as they fight it out with Malaysia, Poland and one of Futsal’s rising forces, the USA.

Futsal is a five-a-side game and one of the fastest growing indoor sports in the world.
Northumbria's Head Of Sport, Colin Stromsoy, said: “This is a very exciting event for anyone and everyone interested in football.

“Futsal has spawned some of the best South American players in the world and continues to grow in popularity.

“Here at Northumbria we boast a very strong Futsal club and we can’t wait to see some of the world’s very best players performing at Sport Central.

“We have a track record when it comes to staging major sporting events here and we’re looking forward to working alongside the FA to ensure the Four Nations Tournament is a huge success.”

Futsal’s roots are in South America - in Brazil there are more active Futsal players than 11-a-side footballers.

The English FA is investing a significant amount of time and money to develop the game across the country.

Futsal is played on a hard court surface without obvious pitch restrictions. Unlike conventional five-a-side football, walls or boards are not used in play. Futsal is also played with a smaller ball with less bounce than a regular football.
The surface, ball and rules create an emphasis on improvisation, creativity and technique as well as ball control and passing in small spaces.

England face USA, Poland and Malaysia in a round robin event from June 6-9.

Tickets are available by clicking here and are priced at £3 per person (£1.50 for juniors) per day (two fixtures per day).

The full fixture list is as follows:

Thursday June 6
Malaysia v Poland (5.30pm)
England v USA (8pm)

Friday June 7
Malaysia v USA (5.30pm)
England v Poland (8pm)

Sunday June 9
USA v Poland (2pm)
England v Malaysia (4.30pm)

Date posted: June 4, 2013