What are the benefits of futsal for 11-a-side football?

When you come from 11-a-side football, the physical impact is a real trump card for futsal, even though futsal has considerably developed in that area. The other way round, if you have played futsal for several years, there are plenty of benefits for the 11-a-side version.

You can sharpen your reactions, increase your speeds, improve your heart-rate, but also improve technically and tactically, and at the same time you will improve your effectiveness because you play in a reduced space and you have less room for error. You will also improve your spatial awareness on the court, the intelligence applied to the game, solidarity with your team-mates and experience genuine team spirit.

The benefits of futsal for an 11-a-side footballer

> sharpness and speed: the tempo and rhythm of a match are much more intense in futsal

> heart-rate: running is more intensive and more repetitive

> techniques and tactics: in each phase of the game, you have throw-ins, free kicks, corners, goal kicks all with tactics associated

An example of a player who symbolises the typical profile of a futsal player is: Messi. If you watch his matches, his main physical activity is acceleration. He does not run miles and miles and he calls for the ball almost incessantly.

> effectiveness: you need to be much more decisive because space is much reduced and the goals much smaller than in the 11-a-side version

> changing position on the court: this is much more frequent than in 11-a-side football

> intelligence: when you play futsal, your brain is working overtime and you don't have time to think - you need to make the right decision at the right moment

> solidarity with team-mates: in futsal, when a team-mate makes a mistake, you are impacted more quickly, and you have no time to recover

> team spirit: as a futsal team has only 5 players on the court (including the goalkeeper), and the same number on the bench with a total of 12 players in the group, if there is not perfect harmony between all the players in the group, this will be immediately felt in the play.

"In 11-a-side football foot it is not uncommon to have cliques, but with futsal, you have less room for error and, thus, team cohesion is paramount. An individual exploit is very rare in futsal where 60% of goals are scored during tactically collective phases."

Adriano greco

Sporting director and player of the squadra mouscron futsal club,

KIPSTA - TECHNICAL SPONSOR

" I created the Squadra Mouscron Futsal Club, with my family and KIPSTA is the equipment sponsor. I am the sporting director, a player and captain of the first team, as well as being the director of the youth section.

I started to play futsal at the age of 16, having been trained in 11-a-side football, first in Lille for 7 years then in Mouscron for a further 5 years. I planned to become a professional footballer but, at the age of 15, following a serious injury, I decided to devote my time to futsal, and to treat 11-a-side football as a recreational activity. I was, in effect, the reverse of the coin compared with most footballers!

I played 11-a-side football on Sundays in Belgium's 6th division for some 4 seasons. As my goal-scoring figures were good, I finally signed as a professional 11-a-side footballer at the age of 25.

At the age of 28, I was transferred to Mouscron, and I had to decide between 11-a-side and futsal. I chose futsal.

I hold the record for playing in all the Belgian divisions, from the 6th Division to the 1st Division, with the same club, la Squadra."

Some useful advice

How to choose your football shoes?

Check out our advice on how to choose your football shoes

Goalkeeper: a unique position

There's no other position like it in football. An essential but isolated figure on the pitch, goalkeepers are often seen as special and unique. But how do you spot a good goalkeeper?

Football: how to become a goal machine

Scoring goals is what football is all about. "Oh, really?" I hear you say. "This guy's a genius!" Want to improve your stats and become your team's number one goalscorer? I've got some advice to share with you.

Keys to success as a wing-back

Long seen as one of those positions no one wanted to play in, wing-backs are becoming more and more important in the modern game. Wing-backs have to both attack and defend, which means they are often the players who make a difference for their team.