Futsal: The Importance of Community

Ben Young and Robbie Davenport futsal training cc:Daniel Quina-Brito

Over the last two decades, we have seen futsal grow in England over a variety of parameters whether it be the sports growth in participation or its recognition.

However, the overruling aspect that has allowed the sport to grow in these ways is the community within futsal.

Due to futsal arguably being a niche interest in the sense that within the realms of UK sport, participation numbers are higher in football and rugby, the need for a tightknit community is crucial in order to make constructive strides towards further growth.

Futsal in the UK has gone through a rollercoaster of a journey as we have seen a number of highs like Manchester’s qualification for the Champions League this season and winning a game to the National Teams loss of funding during the Covid outbreak in 2020.

But one main constant was the togetherness and willingness to not give up on the project of futsal to make sure that when it bounced back it was done correctly so that the same problems would not occur again. We have seen this already with the progression with England Futsal as well as the sports growth in recognition.

It will come as no surprise that futsal has not been covered as frequently on national news outlets as fans would’ve liked but, we have seen independent media outlets like Total Futsal and Futsal Focus form and become integral to bringing information to the community.

Founder of Total Futsal Ben Stevens said: “There was a bit of a gap in terms of the coverage around the sport, I thought the futsal community would really appreciate it and it has been really well received.

I feel like the audience are really committed and engaged. Players in Tier 1commit so much time and effort in their lives to play at the top level of futsal in England but they don’t get paid for it so for me it’s really good to give them a little bit of that profile and give them that little bit of legitimacy.”

Whilst recognition has been well received by the community, the bounce back of England Futsal was a project that was eagerly anticipated after the National Teams closure.

The organisation arguably saved the sport at its darkest point and through hard work and dedicating a lot of time, we have seen some concrete steps to get the project of National Team Futsal back on track.

Since its start of action in 2022, they have successfully run the Youth League’s which has seen a great success in expanding the recognition of futsal to younger ages which will certainly help the sports future.

Head of Development and Technical at England Futsal Sion Kitson said: “We are absolutely integral to the community and it’s really important that we connect so there’s a sense of responsibility on us as people involved in the performance programme.”

The National setup have key games coming up in 2025 as they have been selected as the hosts for the Euro 2026 Qualifiers where they will face Switzerland, Spain and Bosnia Herzegovina where the sense of community could be that little push in order to make history.

Ben Stevens said: “This is massive for the community.  You would ideally imagine that Loughborough has kitted out the hall and the possibility that BBC could be there, but the reality may not be that. But I’m sure it may well get picked up by a couple of outlets.”

Sion Kitson said: “Those games are really critical from a community point of view, these are the biggest games in five years for those players, for us staff but equally, this is crucial for the wider growth of the community.

Hopefully there’s a lot of young players in the crowd who we can hope will want to get involved in the Youth Futsal Cup to build those steps for the future.”

Whilst the operations that England Futsal are working and overseeing are important, the togetherness and willingness to support the sport and encourage participation and growth are just as crucial.

As people involved in futsal, we need to set the foundations in order to allow the sports potential to be reached by future generations so that the sport we love and invest our time in can continue to grow.