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Futsal is a variant of five-a-side football. It is played on a smaller field than Association Football, usually indoors. The term futsal comes from the Portuguese 'futebol de salao' which means hall football. Unlike some other versions of 5-a-side football, the edge of the field is marked by lines, there are no walls to bounce the ball off.

There are currently two governing bodies for futsal: Asociación Mundial de Fútsal (AMF) and Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA). Each association manage their rules of a variation of the game, and therefore there are essentially two versions of futsal.

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The sport of futsal was developed in Brazil and Uruguay between the 1930’s and the 1940’s. The game is played by two teams with five players each. The team roster can have a maximum of 12 members. Substitutions are unlimited. The game has two halves with 20 actual minutes or of 30 non actual minutes. There is a 15-minute break between the two periods. A coin toss decides who will start the match.

A kick-off is a signal that the game must start; it can also be used after a goal had been scored. Unlike regular football, futsal has no offside rule. The attackers can go closer to the goal unlike in traditional outdoor football.

There are many benefits of playing Futsal over regular soccer, including:

• Games are usually played on weekdays freeing up your weekends
• You only need five players including the goalkeeper to start a team, so you can easily put together a team with your friends or workmates
• Games are played indoors - rain, hail or shine. And you won't get muddy.
• The seasons are shorter and more frequent, you can usually play any time of the year
• It is a very physically demanding sport so it is a great way to get and keep fit

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Similar Sports

• 5-a-side Football — each team fields five players on a smaller pitch, with smaller goals and a reduced game duration.
• Beach Soccer — similar to association football but played on a beach or sand.
• Association Football — the world's most popular sport, played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball, on a rectangular field with a goal at each end.
• Indoor Soccer — an indoor version of Association Football developed in North America with side walls keeping the ball in play.
• Jorkyball — a type of indoor soccer played between teams of two on a small rectangular field surrounded by glass walls

Related Pages

• About football (general)
• Football Decoder — what is called football around the world?
• Complete list of sports
• There is a futsal specific interval running fitness test.
• The Encyclopedia of Sports