In a futsal match there are two teams that consist of five players each. In every team there is a goalkeeper and four field players. Besides, like in regular football (soccer) each futsal team comprises a lot of substitutes. Futsal is different form other indoor football kinds in several ways: the most important distinction is that the playing field has lines which delimit it, and not boards or nets.
It is an interesting fact that futsal ball is a little bit heavier than a regular football and thus it requires better skills of ball control as well as performance of passes. Moreover the smaller size of futsal playing field makes the game even more intense and challenging for players. As a result they exercise their decision-making skills and improve their reaction.
Indoor football games forms that include indoor soccer, indoor football and five-a-side football are played according to a specific set of rules that is quite different from those of regular outdoor football. All those indoor football games follow the futsal rules officially formulated. But prior to dwelling in detail on the subject of futsal rules it seems opportune to give account about the history of its appearance and development.
In 1930 the futsal history began in Montevideo, Uruguay, and it's quite interesting that the same year Uruguay held the World Cup. It was Juan Carlos Ceriani who was given credit for that; he wanted a football version to be played at YMCAs both outdoors and indoors. There was no surprise that those kinds of football were rapidly adopted around South American continent, and many of the South America most famous stars played futsal version before migrating to the common football association. In 1936 the first common futsal rules were published in San Paulo.
In 1971 a governing body was formed to manage the game and its championships; this was FIFUSA (the International Indoor Football Federation from the initials in both Spanish and Portuguese), later it received the name of AMF (the Worldwide Futsal Association). In 1989 the Federation Internationale de Football Association took over control over the futsal and retains it till today. The initial rules were slightly amended and certain new rules were introduced by Federation Internationale de Football Association at that point. One of the most outstanding changes was the ball weight reduction, which facilitated ball control, as well as made possible scoring goals with head (though this is still uncommon and difficult).
There are a lot of local futsal competitions, but the most outstanding is the FIFA Futsal World Championship which is held once in four years.
Important Links Include
TheFA.com - Futsal: The game explained