The Way Forward - The Need for a Futsal Winter

As the summer comes to an abrupt end and the start of the gloomy, dark mornings and nights return we enter the 'tough' part of the junior season. Yes the autumn brings some beautiful colours and for many people it is their favourite season of the year, yet for young football players and coaches these months fill one with dread and disappointment. Frozen pitches means cancellations and for many these next several months this will mean a distinct lack of development. Yet should this be the case? As The Whitehouse Address explains, English football needs to radicalise its approach to these winter months and find solutions to the problems faced.

For those that follow and read The Whitehouse Address you know the blog and book focuses on youth development and the solutions to a better future for English football. A fundamental issue is the level of coaching young players receive yet there is an underlying issue affecting all levels and ages of football across England: the weather.

There is no doubt that the climate in England has affected the development of more talented players. If we consider that the season runs from August – May then we have to be realistic and assume that players will only have roughly 12 weeks of ‘good’ weather in that season. The autumn and winter months bring bitterly cold temperatures which affect training and games in terms of cancellations, what can be practised, and more.

Now imagine if the season was moved. Imagine if it ran from February to November, and the winter months were regarded as the ‘off-season’. Would this benefit the development of our players? Without question. There would be fewer cancellations and less time training in freezing cold and dark sessions. Football could be brighter and (slightly) warmer. 

This is not just for the players’ enjoyment, this will allow more tactical development and teaching because coaches and players will be afforded environments which allow more rest, and temperatures which don’t require full-on high tempo football in order to simply ‘stay warm’.

The greatest benefit of a move to a summer schedule is for academy players whom we wish to push to elite levels; they will be able to take greater advantage of the summer holidays. Too often the six week summer period is regarded as ‘down time’ for academies, yet this should be the time when the most activity, coaching and education is happening. 

Academies could have their players in for two or three full days a week, not just to play - but to learn in the classroom and work on their physical and mental development. The summer offers academies what they lack throughout the year: time.

And a benefit of playing in warmer temperatures would see our players ‘learning’ how to play in warm conditions. This may help address why we struggle in summer tournaments as we finally let our players play in summer months!

A summer season for youth football does appear to make perfect sense and why it has not been implemented is slightly baffling. Is it the case of The FA unwilling to move away from the status quo? Unable to accept that perhaps there is a better way of doing things? 

If this was implemented then the time off will allow young players to partake in a winter futsal league. This is arguably the most important solution for young footballers. 

England's lack of creativity

As a nation we have been missing players with true craft and skill. Where are England’s players who can beat an opponent with world class dribbling skills and creativity? There are few if any English players who can rival the Lionel Messi’s, Crisitiano Ronaldo’s or Ronaldinho’s of the game.

Simply, our young players are not practising the right kind of skills to become a top in football. In the past young children would develop their physical, technical and social skills outside; they would play out with their friends and spend endless hours being active. Hours building up and developing their potential. Is this the case now? Unfortunately not. Young children now are ‘blessed’ with technology and entertained for hours upon hours by computers and television. Simply they are not being active anymore.

Many coaches and ex-professionals in England argue for the return of ‘street soccer’, where kids would play in the streets or the parks on their own. It is here they argue where they develop their skills, hone their moves and become better players. It is no surprise; more contact time on the ball, the ability to be more expressive and importantly, no parents or coaches telling them what to do and when to do it. 

In their own environment they develop their own game and make their own rules. This not only develops football skills but social skills too; confidence, leadership, expression, friendship and importantly competitiveness. The worry is that many believe that ‘street soccer’ is dead.

Young children could play for hours with their friends, being competitive, experimenting and honing their skills. Many do not even think they are developing their skills. Imagine when the young kids play against the older ones too, the challenge they have, the ‘stretching’ they need to do to compete, after a while they become faster and more skilful because they are being challenged. 

This kind of environment is where players enhance and develop. English football is struggling to provide this environment for its young players and this why futsal is so important.

Futsal - the solution 

“Great players don’t come from the beach, they come from the futsal court” Dr Emilio Miranda - Professor of Soccer at University of Sao Paolo

Right now English football is marvelling at the talents of Phillipe Coutinho whose skill and creativity has shone in the Premier League. His talents were developed and honed on the futsal courts in Brasil.

The best footballers in the world, Messi and Ronaldo, recognise how futsal has contributed to making them the well-rounded players they are today. As Messi says, “As a little boy in Argentina, I played futsal on the streets and for my club. It was tremendous fun, and it really helped me become who I am.” 

The game is growing worldwide which is unsurprising given its positive influence on football. More countries than ever are playing the sport, with FIFA describing it as, “the fastest growing indoor sport in the world.” 

Spain have become one of the world’s best developers of talent in part because of their culture of futsal. Their present day ‘technical excellence’ and clear technical mastery of the ball are not unsurprising when you consider the impact of futsal on the nation. The professional futsal league was formed in 1989, which is significant when we consider Spain’s emergence in the past decade as a country capable of producing technically accomplished players. 

There is a clear link between futsal and the development of world class players. Spain’s all-time international top scorer, David Villa, played until the age of nine, and said, “Futsal is a bit more technical than football. I also think that because you play a shorter amount of time, there are different physical requirements, because you need to run constantly.” In Spain futsal has become the environment for young players to develop and hone their skills.

Futsal helps to develop creativity in players perhaps more than any other version of small sided football. By its nature it promotes imagination, inventiveness and skill, and also improves decision making and spatial awareness. It promotes players to learn and cope in tight spaces under pressure, a significant issue which many English players struggle with.

It would be unfair to blame English players, it is not their fault - they are simply the products of the environments they have developed in. You can see why England develops skills like those of Gerrard and Beckham. Because of the style of coaching and the landscape afforded to many young players, practice conditions have come about that focus on direct play. Basically these practice environments have stimulated the skills of long passing and neglected the ability to master short passing, 1v1 situations, and handling the ball under pressure.

Therefore if we as a nation wish to compete with the world's best then we need to embrace futsal as a key development tool. And why not use the winter months, where the conditions outside are not conducive for positive development (or any games/training at all) as a time for young players to join a winter futsal league?! An indoor environment which takes away the elements of the weather and which affords players the environment to be creative and challenged is the ideal solution for England's climatic issues.

Investment in facilities

However there is a clear lack of quality facilities in England which allow young children to play in these kind of environments. England trails other nations like Holland, Spain and Germany in terms of the lack of investment which is going into sports facilities around the country. It's clear that if we wish to develop more talented footballers then we need to give them a larger number of facilities to provide them the environment to flourish.

We need more indoor centres which allow young players to play futsal. If children are not allowed to play in the streets anymore then the local councils need to invest in building centres as well as small sided football ‘cages’ similar to what is seen in Spain and Brazil. 

The growing popularity of futsal can aid the future development of players and yet investment in facilities is essential for this to make a difference for young players. Futsal can be a great environment for those players to practice their skills. 

As we begin the autumn and winter months we know that our players will suffer because of it. So why not seek to solve the problem? Change the youth season to a summer one and invest in futsal for the winter months. Perhaps then we may have a larger pool of talented, skilful players which will mean England being able to challenge the top nations in future years. 

The Whitehouse Address @The_W_Address

Matt Whitehouse is the author of “The Way Forward: Solutions to England’s Football Failings” 

The book which is ideally suited to the current debate and offers solutions for a better future. 

Greg Dyke is looking for the answers, well this book has them. 

It is England’s future blueprint – purchase your copy today and see for yourself!