The UEFA Futsal Cup Semi finals will kick off on the 24/4/2009.

24/04/09 Kairat vs Interviú Madrid
24/04/09 Ekaterinburg vs Dinamo Moskva

Third Place Play-off 26 April 2009
Final 26 April 2009

Dinamo outdo Ekaterinburg to retain cup

http://www.uefa.com/competitions/futsalcup/news/kind=1/newsid=816814.html
Sunday 5 April 2009

MFK Dinamo Moskva will go into their UEFA Futsal Cup semi-final at MFK Viz-Sinara Ekaterinburg on 24 April in high spirits after beating their rivals 7-4 on aggregate to retain the Russian Futsal Cup.

Dinamo delight
Dinamo defeated Ekaterinburg a year ago to take the trophy as part of a domestic double, but this season Viz have held the upper hand, leading the league by six points after beating the capital club three times and drawing the other of their four fixtures. However, Dinamo have been in fine form since the recent return of Yuri Rudnev as coach and have now won the cup for a fourth time, despite the absence through injury of several key men including Cirilo.

First-leg draw
In Wednesday’s first leg at the Ekaterinburg Palace of Sport, where the UEFA Futsal Cup finals will be held, Dinamo twice trailed the European champions. But goals from Artem Chudinov and Damir Khamadiev were cancelled out by Aleksandr Rakhimov and Vladislav Shayakhmetov, the former Viz player making it 2-2 in the last minute.

Decisive result
The return on Sunday was a different matter, with Dinamo this time dominant. Aleksandr Fukin, Anatoli Badretdinov, Konstantin Maevski, Rakhimov and Pavel Kobzar all found the target for Dinamo, with only two Pavel Chistopolov strikes in reply. Rudnev said: “We’ve lost some of our top players, but today we were well organised and played mobile futsal, which makes me very happy. We set ourselves the goal of winning this trophy despite all the difficulties and we carried out that task.” Ekaterinburg coach Sergei Skorovich added: “Today, two equally matched teams of the highest level met and Dinamo won, which means they were stronger.”

Interviú victory
Of the other two UEFA Futsal Cup semi-finalists, Kairat Almaty retained the Kazakhstan title last weekend and in midweek suffered two rare defeats, losing 5-3 and 7-4 at home to Ayat Rudny. Interviú Madrid prevailed 4-2 at Carnicer Torrejón FS with a Jaison own goal and two Jordi Torras strikes sandwiching a Betão effort. They lead the regular season table by seven points ahead of ElPozo Murcia FS and look likely to have top seeding for the eight-team championship play-off.

Kairat champions of Kazakhstan again

http://www.uefa.com/competitions/futsalcup/news/kind=1/newsid=815094.html
Tuesday 31 March 2009

Kairat Almaty will go into the UEFA Futsal Cup finals later this month with a fifth straight Kazakhstan domestic double under their belt after wrapping up the league title for the sixth year in a row.

Title success
Having secured a draw and a win against their main title rivals Aktyubrentgen Aktobe in two away games in mid-March, Kairat welcomed the second-placed team holding a nine-point lead. They knew two victories would give them an unassailable lead, and in the first game they won 4-1 after recovering from falling behind early on and followed that up with a 3-2 success, Rafael scoring twice to secure the title with four games remaining.

Harder competition
Goalkeeper Vitali Khalyavin is the sole veteran of all six championship successes, and the 29-year-old Kazakh international said: “We had to work hard for every title. Some people think it has become easier to win gold medals after the reduction of the number of Premier League participants, but that is rubbish. On the contrary: the overall level is significantly higher. Our team continue to grow in terms of quality. We have four matches left in the Kazakhstan league and will try to use them as the part of the preparations for the UEFA Cup semis. As we saw during UEFA [European] Futsal Championship qualifying, Kazakh sides can play against any opponents. Yes we suffered a 7-0 defeat by Spain, but we were not inferior in terms of the game.”

Interviú on top
His team will meet Spanish opposition in the shape of Interviú Madrid in the UEFA Futsal Cup semi-finals in Ekaterinburg on 24 April, with Kairat hoping to win at that stage for the first time in three attempts. In the Spanish league, Interviú remain top of the table after a 4-0 defeat of UD Guadalajara FS at the weekend, Neto scoring twice and Daniel and Schumacher both on target. FC Barcelona are five points behind in the race for top seeding in the championship play-offs.

Russian tussle
The other two semi-finals, MFK Dinamo Moskva and hosts and holders MFK Viz-Sinara Ekaterinburg, are also closely matched in the race for Russian honours. Ekaterinburg saw their Super League lead over reigning champions Dinamo cut to six points this weekend as the capital club picked up a 3-1 win and 4-4 draw at neighbours MFK Dina Moskva while their rivals lost 4-1 at MFK Tyumen before a 4-2 success. Dinamo and Viz’s league and European ambitions are on hold for the moment, though, as they face off over two legs for the Russian Cup on Wednesday in Moscow and Sunday in Ekaterinburg.

Source : UEFA.com

Below you’ll find just some of the great high-resolution pictures of Zidane playing Futsal.

Sourced from zindanefans on LiVEJOURNAL. Click on that link to see the rest of them. Click on the pics below to see the full sized versions.

General Secretaries
AFC Member Associations

Dear Sirs

MINIMUM COACHING REQUIREMENT FOR THE LEVEL 1 OF THE AFC FUTSAL AND GOALKEEPING COACHING COURSES

We would like to inform you that effective 1 January 2009 the AFC ‘C’ Coaching Certificate shall be the minimum coaching requirement to attend the Level 1 of the AFC Futsal and Goalkeeping coaching courses.

Thank you for your kind attention and cooperation on this matter.

Best regards,
Alex Soosay
Acting General Secretary

Source : Sutherland Shire Futsal (via Email)

Futsal4all in conjunction with Gorilla Sports is proud to announce the next edition of the monthly competition.

You have a chance to win Futsal and Football related gear from Gorilla Sports each and every month by simply answering a question.

It is open to all ages. Entries will be compiled each month and Gorilla Sports will draw and announce the winner.

The prizes for March 2009 are as follows :

• Gorilla Playing Shirt
• Gorilla Playing Short
• Gorilla Playing Socks

All sizes will be adjusted to suit the winner. Gorilla Sports will be in contact with the winner to confirm the sizes that you want.

If you want to win it simply answer the following Question :

At International Level, excluding timeouts and extra time, the duration of the game of Futsal is two equal halves of “how many minutes”?

Note this competition is now closed. Winners will be announced soon.

February 2009’s Winner was Paul Jones, who will be the recipient of the following Gorilla Gear…

Good luck to everyone!!

Competition FAQ

* Is the competition open to all ages?

Yes. Anyone of any age can enter the comp each month.

* How is the winner chosen?

All entries submitted via email throughout the month are compiled by Gorilla Sports, and the General Manager of Gorilla Sports NSW will draw the winner. All valid entries are numbered as they are received. During the draw itself, all numbers are put into a hat and one is drawn at random. That number is matched to the number of the email that was submitted.

The winner will be announced on Futsal4all.

* Can I enter more than once?

No, one entry per person per month is all that will be covered. You are welcome to submit more, but after your first entry for that month, your other submissions will not be counted.

* But what if I think I got the question wrong and want to try again?

Sorry your first submission will be the only one that is counted.

* If I enter will my email details be used for anything else and will they be passed on to any other companies?

Your email address will be kept on file for the Gorilla Sports Newsletter only. It will not be passed on to any other companies, and will not be used by Futsal4all.

You must use a valid email address. Any addresses that cannot be contacted will be removed from the competition.

* Will it cost me anything to enter?

No there are no costs involved. It will not cost you to enter, or to have the prize shipped to you should you win.

* I entered the comp last month already, does my entry automatically go into the next months competition?

No, you need to submit an entry for each month, as the question will change each time.

* I’ve won, how and when do I get my prize?

Gorilla Sports will contact you via email to let you know and to request your address. You prize can be posted to you (at no cost to you), or depending on your location hand-delivered by Gorilla Sports, or you could even collect it from the Gorilla Sports shop. Where possible we would love to get a shot of you with your newly won gear so we can put it up here on the website.

Kurukuru will fly Solomon Islands flag once more when teams from Oceania converge in Fiji to compete for the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) Futsal Championship Cup this year.

And the Solomon Islands Football Federation’s (SIFF) Small Sided Games Development officer, Victor Wai’ia, is taking no chances to prepare a strong side to defend the country’s position.

Already, 21 players have been selected and named in the futsal training squad for the Oceania Futsal Championship Cup this year.

The visiting Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) Futsal Development Officer Scott Gilligan helped identified the players.

Gilligan, who has wide experience in coaching futsal, also assisted in their preparation for the futsal championship.

His contribution, including the futsal coaching programme, reflects his desire and vision to spread futsal gospel.

Gilligan, a renowned Australian Futsal coach before taking up the job with the OFC, is keen to see futsal develop in all the island countries.

Wai’ia said those selected into the training squad have been attending training sessions since the team was called together late in January.

“The futsal boys or Kurukuru as they are referred to, will undergo intensive preparation before a final team of 12 players is named,” he said.

Solomon Islands have been highly rated in the Oceania region following their success at the OFC futsal qualifiers in Fiji last year the Futsal World Cup in Brazil.

Having recorded a historic world appearance, the Solomon Kurukuru must work hard to retain their position.

Tahiti and Vanuatu are expected to give the young Kurukuru’s a run for their money at this competition.

Although the country has no proper futsal training facilities, the Kurukuru had proved the odds and made their way into regional and international arena.

The squad members are: Moffat Sikwa’ae, Ron Ginio, Jack Whetney, Elliot Ragomo, James Egeta, Francis Lafai, Alfred Pamoana, Stanley Puairana, Micah Lea’alafa, Philip Houtarau, Jenan Kapu, McPhilip Aisa, Mathias Saru, George Stevenson, Robert Laua, Goerge Qaqa, Benjamin Kiko, Paul Huia, Junior Lioka, Junior Koti and Junior Kogua.

In related news, Fiji Football Association’s FUTSAL commission has named a strong 25 member training squad for the futsal championship.

The squad was named end of February and have commence training under Coach Intiaz Khan.

The training programme continues till the championship in July.

Fiji FutsalSecretary Jainendra Sukhu said the commission decided to name a squad early so the team prepares well for the tournament.

“Fiji is hosting the championship and needs to field a competitive and strong team therefore we have named our squad early so they can have the best preparation,” he said.

The players have been selected based on their performance in the first open club championship in Suva. Other players that impress in the western competition last month were also considered for the national team.

“Futsal is a very popular and fast growing sport in the Oceania region and teams have a lot of benefits of competing in the sport, as the winners of the regional playoffs automatically qualify for the World stage competitions,” Sukhu added.

Source : Solomon Star
Published : 12/3/2009

A 21 member training squad has been named in the futsal training squad.

Small Sided Games Development officer, Victor Wai’ia, says the squad will undergo intensive preparation before a final team consisting of 12 players is named.

The futsal boys will represent Solomon Islands in the Oceania Futsal Championship Cup in Fiji at a date yet to be confirmed.

Wai’ia says those selected are in training squad have been attending their training sessions since the team was called together late in January.

The visiting OFC Futsal Development officer Scott Gilligan helped identified the boys in the squad.

The squad members include; Moffat Sikwa’ae, Ron Ginio, Jack Whetney, Elliot Ragomo, James Egeta, Francis Lafai, Alfred Pamoana, Stanley Puairana, Micah Lea’alafa, Philip Houtarau, Jenan Kapu, McPhilip Aisa, Mathias Saru, George Stevenson, Robert Laua, Goerge Qaqa, Benjamin Kiko, Paul Huia, Junior Lioka, Junior Koti and Junior Kogua.

Source : Solomon Times Online
Published : 11/3/2009

Another dispute within the Philippine Football Federation (PFF) has erupted following the removal of the national women’s futsal (indoor football) coach and the mass resignation of the team members.

“We’re looking for a tribunal where we can explain our side, but unfortunately the Philippine Football Federation doesn’t have one,” said national women’s futsal coach Emmanuel Batungbacal during Tuesday’s Philippine Sportswriters Association forum at Shakey’s UN Avenue Branch.

Batungbacal, who steered the women’s futsal squad to a surprising bronze medal finish in the 2007 Southeast Asian Games, was sacked for sending the team to an international competition in New Zealand without the PFF’s sanction.

Based on documents presented by Batungbacal, the main reason given for his relief is the alleged misrepresentation of the national women’s futsal team. He is accused of sending an unsanctioned squad to the Vikings New Zealand Futsal Invitational.

The relief was based on the recommendation made by PFF Futsal Committee chairman Esmaeil Sedigh.

“It’s ironic because the PFF actually sanctioned us to represent the country in the New Zealand competition,” said Batungbacal, who presented to media a copy of the PFF document approving the team’s participation in the invitational tournament.

The document was signed by PFF General Secretary Pablito Araneta.

“We tried to talk to PFF… but during the meeting, kasama ‘yung president (Jose Mari Martinez), what he told me was, ‘Just put it in our pocket.’ [It's] As if nothing happened. How can we explain our side kung ‘yun mismong president ayaw kang pakinggan?,” said Batungbacal.

Resignation of RP futsal squad

The women’s futsal team came to Batungbacal’s defense by resigning en masse.

Team captain Maria Aurora Tanjangco said they repeatedly requested Martinez to have Sedigh explain his recommendation.

Martinez, however, reportedly sided with Sedigh and asked the team to “forget what happened”.

“Let it be clear that our mass resignation does not stem from the firing of Mr. Batungbacal but with the way you and Mr. Sedigh handled the situation, with obvious politicking, misrepresentations and outright lies,” the futsal team said in its resignation letter.

Tanjangco also claimed that Martinez insulted them for pursuing Batungbacal’s case.

“We were asking for clarification, and what happened? He ignored us, and he kept on reducing our efforts to a monetary value… Ang laging sagot niya sa amin, ‘Sumusweldo kayo ‘di ba (referring to athletes’ allowance)? Anong problema?’” she said.

‘It’s the license, not anything else’

Martinez, meanwhile, denied removing Batungbacal over the RP squad’s New Zealand stint but blamed it on the coach’s lack of credentials.

“We’re trying to put Philippine football in line with our long-term direction. But how can we do that by employing someone who is not licensed to coach?” claimed Martinez.

The PFF president also denied turning a deaf ear to the futsal squad’s complaint.

“In fact, we had a dialogue already,” said Martinez.

This is not the first time the PFF has been hounded with internal problems.

Last February, PFF technical director and long-time national coach Dr. Juan Cutillas resigned from his position over his dispute with Martinez.

Cutillas said he has totally lost confidence with Martinez’s leadership after the latter reportedly stripped the PFF committee heads of their authority.

“Together with my lack of confidence goes my lack of respect, following the lack of respect you have displayed towards me, my committee and other committee heads under you,” Cutillas said in his resignation letter.

Source : abs-cbnnews.com
Published : 10/3/2009

The Under-16 girls who are members of previous futsal squads are urged to turn up at Lawson Tama on Wednesday 3pm for briefing and training.

Small sided Games Development Officer, Victor Wai’ia said it is important that all players attend this session.

The visiting OFC Futsal Development officer, Scott Gilligan, will conduct the session for the girls with assistance from Wai’ia.

Meanwhile, futsal will fly Solomon Islands flag again when teams from Oceania converge in Fiji from May 23 to 30 to compete for the OFC Futsal Championship Cup.

The Solomons will be represented by the Kurukuru team.

Wai’ia said training has started and he hopes to finalise a team soon to represent the country in the tournament.

Solomon Islands is highly rated in the region following its successes at the OFC futsal qualifiers in Fiji last year and its participation at the Futsal World Cup in Brazil.

However, Wai’ia is taking no chances saying he has to prepare a strong side to defend the country’s status.

Tahiti and Vanuatu are expected to give the young Kurukuru’s a run for their money at this competition.

Source : Solomon Star
Published : 3/3/2009

The OFC futsal coaching programme ended yesterday afternoon at the Multipurpose Hall.

A number of futsal coaches participated in the programme. Small Sided Games Development officer Victor Wai’ia is confident knowledge gain would benefit their respective clubs.

OFC futsal development officer Scott Gilligan earlier said he would like the futsal gospel to spread and by involving more coaches in the coaching programme this can be achieved.

He will also assist the Solomon Kurukuru squad in its preparation for the Oceania Futsal Championship Cup in May in Fiji during his stay here.

Gilligan a renowned Australian Futsal coach before taking up the job with the OFC is keen to see futsal develop in all the island countries.

He said his job is to develop the code in all the countries in Oceania including Solomon Islands.

However, Solomon Islands coaching programme would be slightly different because futsal is not a new sport here.

“I would adjust my programme slightly to suit the needs of this country,”Gilligan said.

Source : Solomon Star
Published : 3/3/2009

KUALA LUMPUR: The 5th Meeting of the AFC Futsal Committee was held on Monday with members deciding on the venues for key tournaments over the coming months.

The meeting opened with AFC President Mohamed Bin Hammam hailing the rising standards of Asian futsal over the years and promising the committee that more funds would be available to carry out programmes in the continent.

The Uzbekistan capital of Tashkent will host the finals of the AFC Futsal Championship 2010, which is the flagship futsal tournament for national teams in Asia. Tashkent had earlier hosted the 2006 edition.

Qualification tournaments will be held in Bangkok, Thailand (Asean zone), Doha, Qatar (West zone) and Beijing, China (East zone). The venue for the South & Central qualifiers zone has yet to be decided.

Esfahan, in Iran, will host the AFC Futsal Club Championship 2009 tournament. The event will feature the top club teams from 10 countries – Iran, Australia, Japan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, China, Thailand, Qatar, Lebanon and Iraq.

For seeding of clubs, it was decided to rank clubs according to the rankings of their respective national teams.

The committee also agreed to implement the 2+1 rule in that each club can register no more than two non-Asian foreign players and one Asian foreign player. However, a maximum of one non-Asian foreigner can take the pitch at any time.

There were also proposals from Uzbekistan to stage an Under-21 tournament to develop Asian youth futsal, expand the development of Asian women’s futsal and consider beach soccer as a viable pursuit in Asia.

Source : www.the-afc.com
Published : 2/3/2009