Futsal is a fast-paced 5-a-side soccer game that is widely played across the world and is officially recognized by FIFA. While it is a sport in its own right, Futsal does not compete with mainstream football, but serves to support it. Futsal is widely considered a valuable tool in the development of young players to assist them in becoming more technically proficient. The EFA endorses it as a key part of appropriate training philosophy.

The style of Futsal fosters key skills and techniques that are all directly transferable to the 11-a-side game while also incorporating the principles of attack and defence. Through Futsal, players have increased opportunity for:

• Development of agility, balance, coordination and speed
• Becoming comfortable with the ball
• Practice passing, dribbling, turning, shooting and ball control while under pressure
• Learning to make quick decisions while under pressure and in tight spaces
• Learning better spatial awareness

Additionally, Futsal is primarily an indoor sport so players can continue their development when outdoor surfaces are not available due to poor weather conditions. Futsal is a great opportunity for players of 16 and above years old to play in a recognized form of 5-a-side with a pathway to play in recreational, regional, nation and international competitions in the future.

 

Benefits of Playing Futsal

1. Accelerated Learning- over 60 Possession per Player

• In a 30 minutes Futsal match, a field player on a team using a dynamic system of plays with rotational and player exchanges to create and take advantage of space will touch the ball once every 29.5 seconds. That is just over 60 possessions per player per match if the player plays the entire match. This compares to only 30 to 40 possessions per player in a full 90 minutes outdoor football match (subject to position and style of play by the team).

2. Faster speed of play-speed, agility, quickness

• The benefit to a football player, of playing Futsal matches under the pressure of restricted time, space and pressure is the increase in speed of that player’s game.

3. Improve attacking psychology-The creation zone

• Players taught to use the creation zone to create scoring opportunities have a much better concept of which areas of the pitch can be used to create successful attacks.

4. Teaching Creative Attacking Play-Dynamic Attacking

• While most coaches and trainers credit Futsal with improving skills, teams that use any Futsal's dynamic systems of play learn to play creative attacking football.

Grassroots Football Development Programme is football for all (i.e. football for everyone, by everyone, everywhere). It targets both boys and girls aged 6-12 years old through schools, communities and club initiatives. The key concept of this football development programme is to bring together as many people as possible through football. the grassroots football development programme advocates exchange and sharing of human values and, of course, promotes the pleasure of practising our marvelous sport.

Of course not all young players will become the stars of the future and they do not all have the skills required to become professional players. So intensive training sessions and complicated tactics are not appropriate. The essential elements of grassroots football are relationships, team spirit and fun. This football development programme offers everyone the chance to play football, without discrimination and without the need for major infrastructures. It involves all stakeholders of the EFA which includes Government, Non Government Organizations, Communities and Schools just to mention a few.

Strategy:

To create an efficient technical development structure and efficient technical development programmes which will be a base for the identification, nurturing and continuous production and improvement or upgrade of technical personnel to elite levels.

Objectives:

1. To identify and develop Coaching instructors for each of the four regions of the country
2. To produce more coaches sufficient for schools and all league clubs
3. Ensuring that technical development plan caters for the training of more women as coaches from amongst school teachers
4. Merging the schools junior development programme with the technical development plan for grassroots football.
5. Sensitization and national mobilization to create awareness of mass participation in the development programmes
6. Development and Implementation of the Coaching Policy and the Coach Licensing System

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) is the head of the secretariat which is the management and operations arm of the National Executive Committee. The CEO also becomes a General Secretary of the association in all its assemblies and that of the Executive Committee and is hired on a full-time basis.

The Secretariat of the association comprises the following departments:

• Finance and Administration;
• Technical;
• Marketing and Communications;
• Licensing and Registration.
• Refereeing;
• National Teams.

Each of these departments have heads( Managers) that are responsible to the CEO.