Courtesy: Trinidad & Tobago Guardian


Futsal, beach soccer receives TTFA membership

Futsal coach Clayton Morris believes that futsal in T&T will enter a new era after it was ratified as an official member organisation of the T&T Football Association (TTFA) at the ordinary congress on the weekend. The Futsal Association along with the Beach Soccer Association were given official sanctioning by the local governing body which enables official competitions and development programmes to be organised among other matters relating to futsal and beach soccer. Morris, a past head coach of the national futsal team, is again involved in the five-a-side version of the game which is played mainly indoors and believes it has a bright future in T&T.

“This is something we have spent long hours planning and looking forward to. There are a lot of young persons who look forward to futsal. We haven’t had a national team involved in competition for maybe six to seven years. We are ready to take it forward now,” said Morris, who led T&T to the Caribbean Futsal title in 2004 and 2008. “We can now have futsal better structured with development programmes and the involvement of the more established clubs. This will help us to prepare players for future national futsal team selection.” The Caribbean Football Union Futsal World qualifiers take place in 2015 ahead of the Concacaf final round and 2016 Fifa Futsal World Cup in Colombia.

T&T also entered its first Concacaf Beach Soccer qualification tournament last year and gave a creditable performance. But now being under the umbrella of the TTFA, Beach Soccer president Kyle Lequay is optimistic about the future. “We felt there was a need to officially join ranks with the TTFA which is the official body for football in the country. And seeing the direction the TTFA is heading in under president Raymond Tim Kee, and his circle of football personnel, we felt the timing was perfect. I foresee better structuring of beach soccer in this country and of course an improved programme for our national beach soccer team in the future,” Lequay said. The next 16-nation Fifa Beach Soccer World Cup will be held in 2015 in Portugal. The qualifying rounds will take place in 2014 and 2015.






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