Futsal in Brazil
Encyclopedia
Futsal
Futsal is a variant of association football that is played on a smaller pitch and mainly played indoors. Its name is a portmanteau of the Portuguese futebol de salão and the Spanish fútbol de salón , which can be translated as "hall football" or "indoor football"...
in Brazil is governed by the Brazilian Futsal Confederation. Although it is not the most popular sport in the country, it is widely practiced.
History
Futsal was developed in Brazil and Uruguay around the same time, in 1934 in Uruguay and in the 1940s in Brazil. In Brazil the sport was developed by the Young Men's Christian AssociationYMCA
The Young Men's Christian Association is a worldwide organization of more than 45 million members from 125 national federations affiliated through the World Alliance of YMCAs...
of São Paulo
São Paulo
São Paulo is the largest city in Brazil, the largest city in the southern hemisphere and South America, and the world's seventh largest city by population. The metropolis is anchor to the São Paulo metropolitan area, ranked as the second-most populous metropolitan area in the Americas and among...
due to the lack of available football
Football (soccer)
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...
fields. Basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
courts and hockey
Hockey
Hockey is a family of sports in which two teams play against each other by trying to maneuver a ball or a puck into the opponent's goal using a hockey stick.-Etymology:...
posts were used to practice the sport.
In the 1950s, the first state futsal federations were founded, starting with the Federação Metropolitana de Futebol de Salão (Metropolitan Futsal Federation), of Rio de Janeiro state
Rio de Janeiro (state)
Rio de Janeiro is one of the 27 states of Brazil.Rio de Janeiro has the second largest economy of Brazil behind only São Paulo state.The state of Rio de Janeiro is located within the Brazilian geopolitical region classified as the Southeast...
, founded on July 28, 1954, and currently known as Federação de Futebol de Salão do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (Rio de Janeiro State Futsal Federation), followed by the state federations of Minas Gerais
Minas Gerais
Minas Gerais is one of the 26 states of Brazil, of which it is the second most populous, the third richest, and the fourth largest in area. Minas Gerais is the Brazilian state with the largest number of Presidents of Brazil, the current one, Dilma Rousseff, being one of them. The capital is the...
, also founded in 1954, São Paulo
São Paulo (state)
São Paulo is a state in Brazil. It is the major industrial and economic powerhouse of the Brazilian economy. Named after Saint Paul, São Paulo has the largest population, industrial complex, and economic production in the country. It is the richest state in Brazil...
, in 1955, Ceará
Ceará
Ceará is one of the 27 states of Brazil, located in the northeastern part of the country, on the Atlantic coast. It is currently the 8th largest Brazilian State by population and the 17th by area. It is also one of the main touristic destinations in Brazil. The state capital is the city of...
, Paraná
Paraná (state)
Paraná is one of the states of Brazil, located in the South of the country, bordered on the north by São Paulo state, on the east by the Atlantic Ocean, on the south by Santa Catarina state and the Misiones Province of Argentina, and on the west by Mato Grosso do Sul and the republic of Paraguay,...
, Rio Grande do Sul
Rio Grande do Sul
Rio Grande do Sul is the southernmost state in Brazil, and the state with the fifth highest Human Development Index in the country. In this state is located the southernmost city in the country, Chuí, on the border with Uruguay. In the region of Bento Gonçalves and Caxias do Sul, the largest wine...
and Bahia
Bahia
Bahia is one of the 26 states of Brazil, and is located in the northeastern part of the country on the Atlantic coast. It is the fourth most populous Brazilian state after São Paulo, Minas Gerais and Rio de Janeiro, and the fifth-largest in size...
in 1956, and several others in the subsequent years.
On June 15, 1979, the Brazilian Futsal Confederation was founded, in Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...
, after the Brazilian Sports Confederation (CBD), which was the responsible for the administration of several sports, folded. The founding states were Acre
Acre (state)
Acre is one of the 27 states of Brazil. It is situated in the southwest of the Northern Region, bordering Amazonas to the north, Rondônia to the east, Bolivia to the southeast and the Ucayali Region of Peru to the south and west. It occupies an area of 152,581.4 km2, being slightly smaller...
, Alagoas
Alagoas
Alagoas is one of the 27 federative units of Brazil and is situated in the eastern part of the Northeast Region. It borders: Pernambuco ; Sergipe ; Bahia ; and the Atlantic Ocean . It occupies an area of 27,767 km², being slightly larger than Haiti...
, Amapá
Amapá
Amapá is one of the states of Brazil, located in the extreme north, bordering French Guiana and Suriname to the north. To the east is the Atlantic Ocean, and to the south and west is the Brazilian state of Pará. Perhaps one of the main features of the state is the River Oiapoque, as it was once...
, Amazonas, Bahia, Ceará, Distrito Federal
Brazilian Federal District
The Federal District is set apart for Brasília, the capital of Brazil. Located in a region called Planalto Central, or Central Plateau, the Federal District is divided in 29 administrative regions. Brasilia - place where the three branches of the Federal Government are located - is the main...
, Espirito Santo
Espírito Santo
Espírito Santo is one of the states of southeastern Brazil, often referred to by the abbreviation "ES". Its capital is Vitória and the largest city is Vila Velha. The name of the state means literally "holy spirit" after the Holy Ghost of Christianity...
, Goiás
Goiás
Goiás is a state of Brazil, located in the central part of the country. The name Goiás comes from the name of an indigenous community...
, Paraíba
Paraíba
Paraíba Paraíba Paraíba (Tupi: pa'ra a'íba: "bad to navigation"; Brazilian Portuguese pronunciation: is a state of Brazil. It is located in the Brazilian Northeast, and is bordered by Rio Grande do Norte to the north, Ceará to the west, Pernambuco to the south and the Atlantic Ocean to the east...
, Paraná, Pernambuco
Pernambuco
Pernambuco is a state of Brazil, located in the Northeast region of the country. To the north are the states of Paraíba and Ceará, to the west is Piauí, to the south are Alagoas and Bahia, and to the east is the Atlantic Ocean. There are about of beaches, some of the most beautiful in the...
, Maranhão
Maranhão
Maranhão is a northeastern state of Brazil. To the north lies the Atlantic Ocean. Maranhão is neighbored by the states of Piauí, Tocantins and Pará. The people of Maranhão have a distinctive accent...
, Mato Grosso
Mato Grosso
Mato Grosso is one of the states of Brazil, the third largest in area, located in the western part of the country.Neighboring states are Rondônia, Amazonas, Pará, Tocantins, Goiás and Mato Grosso do Sul. It also borders Bolivia to the southwest...
, Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro, Rio Grande do Norte
Rio Grande do Norte
Rio Grande do Norte is one of the states of Brazil, located in the northeastern region of the country, occupying the northeasternmost tip of the South American continent. Because of its geographic position, Rio Grande do Norte has a strategic importance. The capital and largest city is Natal...
, Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina
Santa Catarina (state)
Santa Catarina is a state in southern Brazil with one of the highest standards of living in Latin America. Its capital is Florianópolis, which mostly lies on the Santa Catarina Island. Neighbouring states are Rio Grande do Sul to the south and Paraná to the north. It is bounded on the east by...
, São Paulo, and Sergipe
Sergipe
Sergipe , is the smallest state of the Brazilian Federation, located on the northeastern Atlantic coast of the country. It borders on two other states, Bahia to the south and west and Alagoas to the north, and to the east is the Atlantic Ocean...
. On August 27 of that year, Aécio de Borba Vasconcelos was elected as the organization's first president, and Fortaleza
Fortaleza
Fortaleza is the state capital of Ceará, located in Northeastern Brazil. With a population close to 2.5 million , Fortaleza is the 5th largest city in Brazil. It has an area of and one of the highest demographic densities in the country...
was chosen as its headquarters.
Futsal is played by most children in Brasil at some point. It combines the fast play and individual talent that is typical of Brazilian soccer. Many professional soccer players from Brazil started playing futsal. Perhaps the most notable of these were Falcão and Ronaldinho.
National team
The Brazilian national teamBrazil national futsal team
The Brazil national futsal team represents Brazil during international futsal competitions. It is under the direction of the Brazilian Futsal Confederation or Confederação Brasileira de Futebol de Salão. The team is considered to be the strongest in the world earning a record three straight...
is very successful, winning several titles, such as the FIFA Futsal World Championship
FIFA Futsal World Championship
The FIFA Futsal World Cup is the international championship for futsal, an indoor version of association football.The world championship tournament is held every four years, on the even year between two FIFA World Cups. The first event was held in 1989, the year FIFA became the world governing body...
, the South American Futsal Championship
South American Futsal Championship
The Copa América de Futsal is the main national futsal competition of the CONMEBOL nations. It was first held in 1967 and until 1989 was organized by FIFUSA and was named "South American Futsal Championship". In 2003 the competition changed its name to "Copa América de Futsal".-South American...
, the Grand Prix de Futsal
Grand Prix de Futsal
The Grand Prix de Futsal is an international futsal competition of the same kind of the FIFA Futsal World Championship but with invited nations and held annually in Brazil. It was first held in 2005.-Competition format:...
, and the Futsal Mundialito
Futsal Mundialito
The Futsal Mundialito is a futsal competition of the same kind of the FIFA Futsal World Cup but with invited nations. It was first held in 1994.-Results:...
. Brazil also won the first edition of the sport at the Pan American Games
Futsal at the Pan American Games
Futsal at the Pan American Games was only held at the 2007 Pan American Games Rio de Janeiro, in 2007. The sport is not scheduled to be held at the 2011 Pan American Games, but is back in the Toronto 2015 Pan American Games.- Results :-References:...
, in 2007.
The team was on a 167 game winning streak and was recently ended by Spain at the Grand Prix.
Domestic competitions
There are two national competitions, which are the Liga FutsalLiga Futsal
The Liga Futsal is the premier futsal league in Brazil, and was created in 1996 with the purpose of setting up a championship with the best futsal teams of the country, corresponding to the Brazilian Football Championship Série A...
, and the Taça Brasil de Futsal
Taça Brasil de Futsal
The Taça Brasil de Futsal is a Brazilian futsal championship. It was the only futsal competition in Brazil until 1996, when the Liga Futsal started....
. Liga Futsal started in 1996, while Taça Brasil de Futsal is the oldest national futsal competition in Brazil, and started in 1968. Also, each state federation organizes its own state championship.