Futsal aims to boost football

Mumbai:

A new form of football called 'Futsal' is kicking off in India, to help promote the sport. A Mumbai-based organisation put together a tournament featuring players from the city's premier and first division leagues. The goal is very simple ---to use 'Futsal' to promote 'big' brother football across the country. "This is to football what one-day cricket is to Test cricket. More entertaining and shorter games mean that we can see more of football played," said Jitendra Joshi, the organiser. 'Futsal' is played on a pitch about a third the size of football field, and each team has five players. Non-stop adrenaline rush Smaller goals and a constant flow of the game, without any breaks, mean that each 20-minute half of Futsal is a non-stop adrenaline rush. "It's a lot of short passing. Touch skills are worked on, and there are no long passes," said Anton Saldhana, Golden Boys, Byculla. The next plan on the agenda of the organisers is to try and take the sport to different centres across the country, making it accessible to kids and schools. In metros like Mumbai, where space is always hard to come by, the new version of football with its deft touches and precise passes could just be the perfect way to help promote the world's most popular sport.