Courtesy: www.thepfa.com

Futsal Develops Youngsters in Brazil

Fresh from two week study visit in Brazil, PFA's Head of Coaching Jim Hicks discusses the popularity of futsal, a game that is played in the urban city and professional clubs alike.

Futsal is very popular in countries such as Argentina, Brazil, Spain and Portugal and has proved a successful starting point for some of today's star players, such as Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Xavi and Neymar.

The game is a variation of football developed in South America, that is played on a smaller field and most resembles five-a-side football played regularly in the UK.

Futsal is seen as an essential development tool for young Brazilian players, Hicks explains: "If you wander around Rio you very rarely see a full size pitch but you do see lots of ball courts.

"The coaches we met in clubs were quite adamant that futsal is the way you learn to play football and all the clubs we visited used the game either formally or informally to induct young kids into regular football.

"Traditionally futsal follows a similar pattern, a goalkeeper and 4 outside players, who would play in a diamond formation.

"Everybody plays in every position and goalkeepers would swap and take turns to play outfield, so all the participants get an understanding of key elements of the game - attacking and defending."

Hicks describes how the game exposes young players to skills that are readily transferable to 11-a-side football: "The game teaches players the importance of compactness when defending and the advantage of expansion when in possession, making the pitch as big possible. It also present the players with lots of 1v1 situations.

"I don't expect this to be a written philosophy in Brazil, but is clearly what we saw, and that represents their football DNA. A need to be as tight as possible when you haven't got the ball, but as soon as possession is won, make the pitch massive and there is also a big emphasis on being expressive in the 1v1s.

"If you are striving to dominate 1v1 in an attacking sense, inversely this means that as a defender you have to learn to counter that pretty quickly or else you will be regularly exposed.

"So almost subliminally they are teaching their players with very little coaching intervention, how to actually be good in games and those really crucial situations."

Hicks added: "Amazingly when 10 or 11 year old players sign for a professional club, it is often the first chance a young player will have in experimenting, not just with 11v11 football, but also the first time to play on grass.

"By the time they reach this stage the player will be comfortable with the ball and will have mastered a lot of the movements needed to provide the foundations of a good player.

"I don't think this is a planned system, I believe it has just evolved. It's a great evolution!"

Asked to explain how this might relate to the English system of youth development, Hicks stated: "Gareth Southgate and Trevor Brooking have undertaken a mountain of work to try and get younger players playing in smaller sided games, encouraging elements that we know work, such as more touches on the ball, more chances to be creative and the opportunity to make mistakes and learn."

"The FA have talked about developing a specific DNA, so there would be a distinct identity to English football.

"I believe they are aiming to have a product that they can quantify and say 'this is the English way', and it's probably quite a good starting point.

"At a national level, we've almost fallen between two stalls at the moment and we can't quite decide whether we want to be a possession based country or whether we want to play a high-tempo game that is more direct."

Drawing on observations from Rio, Hicks continued: "It is often cited in England that we need a return to schools football, well that doesn't exist in Brazil.

"If you do go to school in Brazil (a privilege that not all the children are fortunate enough to take for granted), it is typically a 4 hour day and football is not formally taught or played in that time."

"So if you want to play football you go to a local club and you play futsal and later on 11v11 football. So the model is different to ours."

Hicks concluded: "With a population of 200 million and football being integral to the culture, you will naturally produce a large pool of talented players."

"So it is not to say one system is better than the other, but it is undeniable that Brazil do consistently produce good young players."








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