Staffordshire FA Women's Futsal League

The Female Futsal league, which ran for four weeks, took place at Cheslyn Hay Leisure Centre and offered the opportunity for three local Women’s teams to participate. FC Reedswood, Stafford Town Ladies FC and Wyrley Ladies FC all took part and played against each other in a round robin style format each week.

Three teams participate in the Women's Futsal League,
shown above, with the signed England flag

Futsal is new to the County, but The FA have been working to introduce the game over the last few years.

Futsal is similar to the 5-a-side format which has been played for many years, but has a few differences designed to encourage the development of a players skill and ability. A few of the different rules include ‘kick-ins’ instead of throw-ins, 5 foul limits, a smaller heavier ball than usual, substitution zones and different Hockey style goals. In Futsal, four referees are also used to officiate each game.

To introduce the game to the teams taking part in the league, Staffordshire FA held an introduction session prior to the league starting to show the teams how the game is played and introduce the rules to the teams.

For the following 3 weeks, the teams attended every Monday evening to play against each other, giving the teams the opportunity to play Futsal, develop their skills and also proved to be useful for helping the players with their pre-season fitness in the preparation for the upcoming season.

The success of this league will now lead onto further Futsal opportunities in the future.

Each year, the FA hold the annual FA Futsal Cup at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield. Hopefully next year, Staffordshire will be able to put forward a Futsal team to represent the County at the event after holding leagues and competitions such as this in the County.

For further information with regards to the Futsal League, or for information with regards to Girls and Women’s Football in Staffordshire, please contact Kevin Staples, Football Development Officer (Girls and Womens) on 01785 256994 or kevin.staples@staffordshirefa.com