Manchester United under 10’s to play at FA Youth Futsal Festival

FA NATIONAL
YOUTH FUTSAL FESTIVAL 2010

The Football
Association will once again be staging the National Youth Futsal
Festival in
Sheffield at the English Institute for Sport on the 3rd and 4th
July 2010.  This will be the fourth year
that this showpiece festival in the FA Futsal calendar has been held
in
Sheffield, and this year will see a number of professional football
club
academy teams entering the festival for the first time.

The FA National
Youth Futsal Festival will see 80 youth teams from across the country
playing over
the weekend at under 10, under 12, under 14 and under 16 age groups. 
These youth teams will travel from all
corners of the country after winning their local county Futsal
Festival, and
then progressing through their Regional Festival to represent their
region in
the National Finals.  The FA National
Youth Futsal Festival celebrates both boys and girls Futsal, with the
focus
being on enjoyment, skill and fun.

This year will
be the first occasion that leading boys and girls’ football academies
will be
involved in the Festival.  Clubs of the
calibre of Manchester United, Sunderland, Nottingham Forest and Leeds
United
amongst others will join local club Sheffield United in sending their
under 10
boys and girls academy teams to take part. 
These professional clubs are not only keen to provide an enjoyable
football experience for their young players, but are also interested
to explore
how Futsal can be integrated into their training to support the
technical
development of their young talent.

“The FA National Youth Futsal
Festival is a wonderful occasion that brings together young people
from across
the country to participate in a game that they love.  The atmosphere
of the event is terrific and
the young players really thrive at being involved in an FA national
event.  This year’s Festival can only be enhanced
with the addition of a number of professional football club academies
and it is
pleasing to see that these clubs are beginning to embrace Futsal. 
Futsal is a game that can really play a
positive role in assisting the technical development of the young
players in
this country.”

(Simon Walker, FA National Manager for Small
Sided Football)

What is
Futsal?

Futsal is
FIFA and UEFAs recognised format of 5-a-side football and in recent years has
been embraced by The Football Association. 
FIFA claim that it is the fastest growing indoor sport in the world, and
is immensely popular outside of the UK.  Futsal
has played an important role in the technical development of some of the
world’s leading football players; Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Kaka, Xavi,
Ronaldinho to name just a few all played Futsal as they grew up and developed
into world beaters.  The FA are keen to
harness the benefits of this game and introduce it to benefit the technical
development of English young players. 
Futsal is being played widely in schools, colleges and universities
across the country, and The FA has established an adult National Futsal League
and an England senior men’s Futsal team that plays in European and World Cups.

Futsal is a
format of 5-a-side football that is played indoors with a smaller, heavier
ball.  The game is played to pitch lines
and hockey-sized goals, which helps to encourage improved decision making and
technical skill from young players.

The FA
National Youth Futsal Festival takes place on the 3^rd & 4^th
July 2010 at the English Institute for Sport in Sheffield (Coleridge Road,
Sheffield, S9 5DA)

For more
information please visit www.TheFA.com

Or contact:

·        
The FA: Lisa Williams (Lisa.Williams@TheFA.com)

·        
Sheffield & Hallamshire
Football Association: Kate Evans (Kate.Evans@SheffieldFA.com)