English futsal taking the development steps everyone hoped to see!

Respected futsal players and  internationals Doug Reed and Raoni Medina (England captain) were contacting professional football players asking them to support the Save Futsal campaign and they were on  TV and radio (Doug mainly on platforms in England, Raoni mainly on platforms abroad) discussing how the FA’s choice would affect the future of the sport. But, at the same time this activity was helping to increase awareness of English futsal at home and abroad. And, at that time, with COVID, and everything else that was going on due to lock downs and the season being cancelled, everyone felt like the sport was going backwards in England.

Doug Reed & Raoni Medina

Trying to find answers and a way forward

The National Futsal League (NFL – Not the FA National Futsal Series – the NFL are an independent entity) at this time was seen as the third tier of English futsal, outside of the FA, but still recognised within its pathway, announced that it was discussing a potential way forward with Leisure Leagues. Leisure Leagues are an organiser of five and six-a-side football leagues in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, they operate leagues in the Republic of Ireland, America and Pakistan also. Plus, they organise their own world cup called Socca World Cup.  This potential development got a mixed response, the language being used by Leisure Leagues felt like a challenge to the FA’s authority over futsal. The National Futsal League eventually decided to go their own way, and began looking for other alternative opportunities to push their league forward, assist their clubs and futsal development.

English Futsal Clubs Association

During all this, the English Futsal Clubs Association was announced which was set up by Simon Wright a founder of Manchester Futsal Club, Junior Roberti a founder of York Futsal Club  and Rodrigo Sousa a founder of London Escolla Futsal Club. The organisation has attracted many members and aims to use knowledge sharing as the way forward, and build their own database of engagements with the clubs to understand the collective opinions. By doing so they want to help with club development, coach education, player pathways, competitions, and governance in England. This development has been overdue in England and in Great Britain as a whole, and it is great to see the clubs working together to push the sport forward as it should be, and hopefully, this will be successful and we will see the same eventually happen in Scotland and Wales. You can visit their website at https://www.efca.co.uk/

LNFS England

Suddenly, out of nowhere, a news development broke, the National Futsal League announced going forward they will be known as LNFS England. The LNFS (Liga Nacional de Futbol Sala – the futsal national league) has helped develop futsal in Spain for over 30 years. The only word that can be used for the LNFS in relation to their knowledge/ experience and the contribution they can provide global domestic futsal is invaluable. However, this development has also had a mixed response and led to their removal from the recognised FA pathway. In Spain, the LNFS has lost control of the top two professional divisions which would be their biggest revenue generators, what the future holds for the organisation is now unclear so it is going through its own evolutionary journey to stay relevant and profitable, but choosing league governance in another country has led some to ask why? What is the LNFS looking to get out of this development? If they start to develop in other countries as well what will they try to evolve into? Futsal Focus has been asked these types of questions many times by people from around the world. But, what the future holds for the LNFS is not LNFS England’s top concern, their concern is to bring as much experience and know-how from the LNFS to the aid of their clubs and provide them with opportunities, whilst also assisting futsal development. Already, the league announced the Anglo-Spanish Tournament which will be an annual event. This will take place in Spain at the end of each season between two leading Spanish futsal teams and the winners of the LNFS England Premiership North and Premiership South competitions. The four teams, two English and two Spanish, will play in a round-robin tournament over a four-day weekend period, with practical workshops and coaching sessions between matches that are open to junior and adult members from any LNFS England club. These matches are part of the journey for LNFS England and will allow them to establish a baseline from which to measure the progress of their clubs on the court over the coming years. Media representatives will attend the tournament and all matches will be filmed and broadcast. This will be a wonderful experience for their clubs who get to travel to Spain.  Recently, they also announced that they have been accepted as a Koi Sports CIC Elite Champion Member. Koi Sports CIC were established in November 2018 to help “sustain, enhance, and grow” the grassroots sports sector by driving commercial investment into sports clubs to deliver positive social change. They work on the premise that sport brings people and communities together, no matter what an individual’s background, religion, race, or other characteristic, and that everyone should be given the opportunity to get involved in a sport that they enjoy to improve both their physical and mental health. You can visit their website: lnfsengland.org

LNFS

Liam Palfreeman

With all this change happening in England, in Italy, another journey was happening but for a player. English professional futsal player Liam Palfreeman was vocal, like many of his national team members about the FA’s decision to cancel the national team. He spoke on many podcasts about his futsal experience and his anger/ heart break at not being able to do what he loved most, which was representing his country. However, despite this, and getting COVID as well in Italy, and being far from his friends, family and partner, he fought on with his futsal dreams, dreams he still had control of.

Liam was playing in the Divisione Calcio a5 Serie B Group D for CUS Ancona, a team with one of the smallest budgets in their league and seen as an underdog when it came to challenging for the title. However, by the end of the season, Liam became the first British player to win a league title in three different countries (England, Spain and Italy). Even though he is a defender, he finished the season as the group’s third top goal scorer, scoring 25 goals in 21 games and played with his club in the Last 8 of the Coppa Italia Serie B. Liam’s success was celebrated by many clubs in England and helped to shine a positive light on the opportunities futsal can give players who are interested to play abroad. He has now returned to England, and will compete for Helvecia Futsal Club  in the Summer Showdown whilst he waits for his agent to organise a new club abroad for the new season. You can see highlights of Liam’s season in Italy below: