Capital City Futsal’s F-League kicked off recently at the Chinese Cultural Centre in Wellington.

The eight team league, the premier men’s futsal competition in the region, features a number of Futsal Whites players from the recent OFC Championships

Favourites to win the inaugural F-League are Wellington NL, coached by Brian Blellock, who masterminded Capital City’s victory in the 2008 National Futsal Tournament in Auckland. The side features former Japanese pro futsal player Shingo Ina, Futsal Whites Said Soleimanpour, Tariq Azzad, Khalid Razouk and Lucas da Silva as well as target Micky Malivuk, fresh from his goal scoring exploits in the OFC Championships in Suva in August.

They will face stiff competition from Wellington High Five – a combined college team lead by Futsal White Issac O’Hara and High Brazilians – a team of Brazilian exchange students.

Capital City Fustal Devlelopment Officer Matt Fejos is delighted the F-League is up and running, after a long time in the planning with New Zealand Football Futsal Development Manager Dave Payne

“This a great leap forward for the game in our region. We’re particularly pleased to have the F-League being played on a larger court, with games of 40 minutes duration. This is ideal for preparing our players to national and international standards” he said.

While creating a pathway to national and ultimately international futsal representation for local players and referees, Fejos also says the F-League sees a step up in the standard of presentation of futsal in Wellington.

“Besides widening the court to 22 metres, we have also prepared clearly defined areas for technical staff and have a pool of FIFA trained futsal referees” he said.

“In addition, we have secured sponsored shirts for each of the teams, ensuring a consistent standard of presentation for all games.”

The Capital City F-League runs on Tuesday nights from 7pm at the Chinese Cultural Centre in Mt Albert Road, Berhampore, Wellington