Association of Colleges (AOC) Sport launches new National Futsal League

The new league will add an additional level of competition to complement AoC Sport’s current regional futsal offering.

The National Futsal League will run throughout the academic season and will provide an opportunity for further education institutions and providers who are invested in the development of futsal to test themselves against the best teams in the country. The Association of Colleges (AoC) is a not-for-profit membership organisation set up by colleges to act as their collective voice, representing further education colleges in the UK.

The format of the league will be confirmed in June, once entries have been submitted.

Whilst the regional leagues will continue to run in the same vein as the 2018/19 season (in the latter 2 months of the season and in a festival format), the National Futsal League will run throughout the academic year in a home and away format.

Structure of ECFA National Futsal League announced

The proposed league structure for the inaugural ECFA National Futsal League:

Men’s 1

• Loughborough College
• Oldham College
• South Tyneside
• Tameside College
• Thomas Rotherham College

Men’s 2

• Milton Keynes College
• Suffolk New College
• Newham College Reigate College
• East Norfolk Sixth Form College
• USP College (Palmers Campus)

Men’s 3

• Chichester College
• Wiltshire College
• West Thames College
• Saint Francis Xavier College
• Reigate College

Women’s 1

• Tameside College
• City Of Stoke on Trent Sixth Form College
• Weston College

Women’s 2

• The College of Haringey
• USP College (Seevic Campus)
• Barking Abbey School
• LEWES FC Girls Academy
• East Norfolk Sixth Form College

The format for the men’s league will be a season of home and away fixtures starting in September 2019 with a National playoff in March 2020.

Support from AoC Sport to lessen travel distances through the use of the neutral venue for specific fixtures within each league group is being explored.

It is intended that the format will be similar in the women’s league, although this is dependent on more teams entering group 1.

The league will be providing all National League Futsal teams with the opportunity to send staff and/or students on an FA Level 1 Futsal Coaching course, as well as an FA Futsal Referees course, to be held at St George’s Park ahead of the season starting.

Furthermore, National League teams will be able to nominate players to attend an English Colleges Futsal Talent Camp, run by FA futsal coaches.

This development along with the other opportunities to play Futsal in the National Futsal Series (The FA), the National Futsal League (Independent), British Universities & College Sport, the FA National Youth Futsal Festivals, FA Futsal 5s Leagues, leagues organized by clubs and academies along with other providers shows the growth Futsal in England and across the UK.

Source of the article: https://www.aocsport.co.uk

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