Futsal is a scaled-down variant of association football played between two teams of five players each on a court smaller than a football pitch. Its rules are based on the Laws of the Game of association football, and it also shares similarities with five-a-side football and indoor soccer.

Futsal players, one of whom on each team is the goalkeeper, mainly use their feet to propel a ball around the court with the objective of scoring goals against the opposing team by moving the ball beyond the goal line into the opposing team's goal. A futsal match consists of two periods of 20 minutes, and the team that scores more goals wins; an equal number of goals scored results in a draw. Futsal is played with a smaller and heavier ball than association football, and usually indoors on a hardcourt surface marked by lines.

The playing surface, ball, and rules favour ball control and passing in small spaces. For these reasons, futsal is commonly used by coaches as a means to develop association football players. Futsal is played worldwide, but it is most popular in South America and the Iberian Peninsula, where there are many professional teams. In much of the rest of the world, the sport is primarily amateur or recreational.

Name

Futsal comes from the Portuguese futebol de salão and from the Spanish fútbol sala or fútbol de salón, all translatable as "indoor football" (). The term may have been coined by a Brazilian journalist in the 1960s. Due to a dispute between FIFA and FIFUSA (now the World Futsal Association) in the 1980s over the use of the word "football", FIFUSA started using the term futsal during its 1985 World Championship in Madrid, Spain. However, FIFA, which started organising its own international futsal tournaments in 1989, also adopted the term in the 1990s. Since then, futsal has become the officially and internationally accepted name.

History

Origins

Futsal started in 1930 in Montevideo, Uruguay, when a physical education teacher named created a version of indoor football for YMCAs.

Originally developed for basketball courts, a rule book for the sport was published in September 1933. Shortly after, a tournament was organised. It attracted interest from South American media, which began to cover futsal regularly. In the 1960s, Brazilian journalist José Antônio Inglêz contributed to the spread of the game, and he may have coined the term "futsal", although it did not come into widespread use until the 1980s.

The highest-attended futsal match in history took place on 7 September 2014 at the Mané Garrincha Stadium in Brasília, where 56,483 spectators watched Brazil face Argentina in a friendly match.

thumb|[[Philippines women's national futsal team|Philippines–Poland match during the first edition of FIFA Women's World Cup in 2025]]

Futsal is a popular global sport, with over 30 million players worldwide as of 2024, according to FIFA. Due to its easy setup, enhanced accessibility, technical demands, and lower physical requirements, futsal has become an essential resource for coaches aiming to develop football players.

In December 2022, FIFA announced the women's version of the FIFA Futsal World Cup. The inaugural edition was held in the Philippines from 21 November to 7 December 2025.

Gameplay

FIFA's version of futsal is played in accordance with the "Futsal Laws of the Game", which are based on IFAB's Laws of the Game, the ruleset for association football. The game is played with a spherical ball of circumference. Two teams of five players each compete to get the ball into the other team's goal (between the posts and under the bar), thereby scoring a goal. The team that has scored more goals at the end of the game is the winner; if both teams have scored an equal number of goals then the game is a draw. The primary law is that players other than goalkeepers may not deliberately handle the ball with their hands or arms during play. Although players mostly use their feet to move the ball around, they may use any part of their body other than their hands or arms.

A futsal ball is smaller and heavier than a regular football, with a lower bounce. Futsal shares similarities with other small-sided football variants, such as five-a-side football (same number of players) and indoor soccer (similar playing surface). However, unlike those two games, there are no walls or boards around a futsal pitch; instead, boundaries are marked with lines on the floor, as in association football.

During game play, players attempt to create goal-scoring opportunities through individual control of the ball, such as by dribbling, passing the ball to a teammate, and by taking shots at the goal, which is guarded by the opposing goalkeeper. Opposing players may try to regain control of the ball by intercepting a pass or through tackling the opponent in possession of the ball; however, physical contact between opponents is restricted. Futsal is generally a free-flowing game, with play stopping only when the ball has left the field of play or when play is stopped by the referee for an infringement of the rules. After a stoppage, play recommences with a specified restart. There is no offside in futsal.

The Laws of the Game do not specify any player positions other than goalkeeper, but specialised roles have evolved. Usually, besides the goalkeeper, a futsal formation consists of a defender or fixo; two wingers or alas, each of whom mostly occupies the left or right side of the pitch; and a forward or pivot. There are no restrictions in movement, and outfield players can switch positions at any time. The goalkeeper may leave the goal untended and become an additional outfield player in the attacking half of the pitch, called a "flying goalkeeper", particularly in the last minutes of a match, when a team is already losing and is searching for an equaliser. Defining the team's formation and tactics is usually the prerogative of the team's head coach.

Due to the smaller dimensions of the pitch, futsal matches produce more goals on average than association football matches. The playing surface, ball and rules favour ball control and passing in small spaces. The game also emphasises improvisation, creativity and technique. Portugal and Spain, but it is mostly an amateur or recreational sport in the rest of the world.

: Ages 8–12: Size 3, circumference , weight between at the start of the game.

: Ages 13 and up: Size 4, circumference , weight between at the start of the game.

: Dropped from a height of , the first rebound must not be lower than or higher than . The goalkeepers are allowed to wear long trousers and must wear different coloured kits to distinguish themselves from the other players on the pitch and the referees. All players are allowed to wear "non-dangerous protective equipment" such as gloves, soft headgear, knee and arm pads. Jewellery is not allowed, nor are other items that could be dangerous to the player wearing the item or to other participants. The standard size court for an international match is (the size of a handball field). The minimum height of the ceiling is defined by the competition rules.

A rectangular goal is positioned at the middle of each goal line. The inner edges of the vertical goalposts must be apart, and the lower edge of the horizontal crossbar supported by the goalposts must be above the ground.

  • Asia: Asian Football Confederation (AFC)
  • Africa: Confederation of African Football (CAF)
  • Europe: Union of European Football Associations (UEFA)
  • North/Central America & Caribbean: Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF)
  • Oceania: Oceania Football Confederation (OFC)
  • South America: Confederación Sudamericana de Fútbol (South American Football Confederation; CONMEBOL)

The International Futsal Alliance (IFA) is a partnership of countries formed to offer high quality futsal tournaments throughout the world. It sees itself as ancillary rather than competing with FIFA. Its membership spans countries from North and South America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and Oceania. Several tournaments have been organised under the auspices of IFA, including a World Cup for men held in 2019 and one for women held in 2017.

National football associations or federations are responsible for managing futsal in their own countries both professionally and at an amateur level, and for coordinating competitions in accordance with the Futsal Laws of the Game.

  • World University Futsal Championships

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| Asia

|

| AFC Futsal Asian Cup

|

  • Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games
  • Southeast Asian Games
  • SAFF Futsal Championship
  • ASEAN Futsal Championship
  • CAFA Futsal Championship
  • EAFF Futsal Championship
  • WAFF Futsal Championship

|-

| Africa

|

| Futsal Africa Cup of Nations

|

|-

| North America, Central America and Caribbean

|

| CONCACAF Futsal Championship

|

  • Central American Games

|-

| South America

|

| Copa América de Futsal

|

  • Odesur Games
  • Bolivarian Games

|-

| Oceania

|

| OFC Futsal Nations Cup

|

|-

| Europe

| UEFS Futsal Men's Championship

| UEFA Futsal Championship

|

  • Baltic Futsal Cup
  • European Universities Football Championships
  • Nordic Futsal Cup

|}

Women

{| class="wikitable"

|-

! Region !! AMF-affiliated !! FIFA-affiliated !! Other competitions

|-

| World || AMF Futsal Women's World Cup || FIFA Futsal Women's World Cup || World Deaf Football Championships || || Intercontinental Futsal Cup || || Futsal 5 A-Side Australia Interstate Club Championship

|-

| South America || || || Copa Libertadores de Futsal || Copa Libertadores Femenina de Futsal ||

|-

| Asia || || || AFC Futsal Club Championship

AFF Futsal Club Championship

| ||

|-

| Africa || || || || ||

|-

| North America, Central America and Caribbean || || || CONCACAF Futsal Club Championship || ||TSC Futsal League

|-

| Oceania || || || OFC Futsal Champions League || ||

|-

| Europe ||

  • UEFS European Champions Cup
  • UEFS Cup
  • UEFS Veteran European Champions Cup

||

  • UEFS Women's European Champions Cup
  • UEFS Women's Cup

|| UEFA Futsal Champions League || ||

|}

Discontinued competitions

  • Futsal at the Lusophony Games
  • Futsal at the Pan American Games
  • Mediterranean Futsal Cup
  • North African Futsal Tournament
  • Women's Futsal World Tournament

FIFA Futsal World Ranking

On 6 May 2024, FIFA officially launched the FIFA Futsal World Ranking for both men's and women's national teams, citing the exponential growth of futsal worldwide. The rankings are used for seeding in the FIFA Futsal World Cup. In the inaugural release, Brazil was placed first in both the men's and women's rankings.

Men

The top 20 teams according to the FIFA Futsal Men's World Ranking are:

Women

The top 20 teams according to the FIFA Futsal Women's World Ranking are:

See also

  • Beach soccer
  • List of types of football
  • Street football

Notes

References

  • FIFA Futsal World Cup
  • FIFA Futsal Women's World Cup
  • FIFA Futsal World Cup Overview at the RSSSF
  • Fut5al Planet
  • Old version of Fut5al Planet