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FIFA - The FIFA Futsal World Championship
2004 will be taking place in Chinese Taipei from 21 November to 5
December. Who will emerge victorious: holders Spain, three-time world
champions Brazil or an outsider such as Iran, Ukraine, Argentina or Italy?
The opening match in Chinese Taipei's first-ever national futsal
championship in September 2003 attracted fewer than 100 spectators. In
contrast, competitive matches in Brazil and Spain are played to full
houses and shown live on television.
The discrepancies in futsal remain huge: here the amateurs, there the
professionals. Here a fun and popular pastime, there a business generating
millions from broadcasting and sponsorship deals.
Brazil, who have claimed the world title three times, and Spain, the
reigning champions, are dominant in a sport that is steadily gaining in
popularity. A total of 46 teams took part in the qualifying competition
for the 1996 Futsal World Championship in Spain, but twice as many teams
fought out the 16 places for this year's tournament in Chinese Taipei.
Nations such as Argentina, Paraguay, Italy, Portugal, Ukraine and Iran
have made significant progress in the past few years and are now at the
stage where they can make life difficult for masters Brazil and Spain. A
warm-up tournament staged recently in Iran was won by the hosts in the
face of competition from Brazil and Ukraine.
Falcao is the best
On paper, though, Brazil have to be the favourites to lift the crown in
Chinese Taipei, where the host team and the Czech Republic are making
their debuts at the Futsal World Championship. More than ten million
people play futsal in Brazil - a gigantic reservoir of talent that once
included modern greats such as Ronaldo, Ronaldinho and Lucio.
The top Brazilian league has 17 teams, all of them fully professional. Its
leading protagonist is Falcao, according to experts the best futsal player
in the world. Falcao stands out not only as a goalscorer but also as a
provider. He is a technically very gifted player whose skills do not come
cheaply, bringing him 10,000 US dollars a month from his club
Malwee/Jaragua, with sponsors contributing a further 5,000 US dollars.
His international team mate Manoel
Tobias, twice a World Championship winner, leading marksman at the
tournaments in 1996 (14 goals) and 2000 (19 goals) and scorer of 278
international goals, has the edge over Falcao in financial terms, though.
Tobias earns 20,000 US dollars a month at Polaris World Cartagena, one of
the leading clubs in Spain.
Brazil's national coach Fernando Coelho "Ferretti", who four years ago
managed the host Guatemala side that lost 29-2 to Brazil in a group game,
has only one objective in Chinese Taipei - to regain the title the South
Americans relinquished in a memorable final against Spain (4-3) in
December 2000.
Brazilian records
Brazil are by far the most successful futsal team to date, having won
three world championship titles in succession (1989, 1992, 1996) and
scored the highest number of goals at the previous four tournaments (210,
an average of 6.6 goals per game). In second place come Spain with 131
goals (4.9 per game), followed by The Netherlands with 75 (2.9 per game),
who surprisingly failed to qualify for Chinese Taipei.
Brazil and Spain have also set attendance records, with the final of the
1996 World Championship between the two futsal powers at the Palau Sant
Jordi in Barcelona attracting 15,500 fans. There was to be no giant
victory party for the home team, though, as the visitors from Brazil ran
out 6-4 winners. The attendance record at a futsal world championship
tournament, however, is held by Guatemala. Four years ago, more than
224,000 people - 5,600 per game - saw the tournament at the two indoor
stadiums in Guatemala City.
Will the record be broken in Chinese Taipei? The hosts have the stadiums
to do it (one holds almost 15,000 spectators, the other 5,000), and the
list of qualifiers is an extremely attractive one. As most of the 16 teams
favour an attacking style of play, a festival of goals and attractive
matches is almost guaranteed. The only question is whether a country with
no futsal tradition and starting from scratch will be able to win over
enough people to this fascinating version of football and persuade them to
watch a total of 40 matches in 14 days. |
