The pilot league features five New Zealand clubs and one Australian team in a 15-round competition plus finals, played over three series during the 2010/11 summer.
Futsal is the FIFA and NZ Football-approved version of five-a-side football. It is played on a court with a smaller, low-bounce ball. The game combines creativity, speed, technique, teamwork and quick thinking.
A special feature of the 2010/11 Futsal National League is the inclusion of New South Wales-based Maccabi Futsal, whose squad includes a number of Futsalroo internationals, as well as national team coach Steven Knight.
With numerous current and ex-Futsal Whites in their squads, Capital City Futsal (Wellington) and East City (Auckland) will enter the new league with strong claims on the title.
Capital City have five players who took part in the OFC Futsal Championship in August – Khalid Rhazouk, Said Soleimanpour, Tariq Assad, Izaac O’Hara and Lucas Silva – while Clayton Chappell, Elias Billeh, Miroslav Major and Dylan Manickum will line up for East City.
Red Sox (Manawatu), the newly-formed Football South Futsal (Dunedin) and Christchurch Futsal complete the six-team line-up.
NZ Football futsal development manager Dave Payne says the launch of the pilot national league demonstrates the organisation’s long-term commitment to the small-sided game.
“New Zealand Football and the futsal community are delighted to get the Futsal National League underway,” he says. “Bringing the game to national prominence has been a lot of hard work for everyone, over a number of years.”
“The National Futsal League will feature many of our top players and it presents a great opportunity for futsal and football fans alike to see this great game played on a full-sized international court. And the inclusion of Maccabi from Australia just gives it another dimension.”
Payne says the national league will also provide players with the chance to push for selection for the Futsal Whites squad which will attempt to qualify for the world cup by winning next year’s OFC championship.
“New Zealand have a real chance to get to the World Cup in Thailand in 2012 and the players will definitely want to get in front of Futsal Whites head coach Matt Chandler and show what they can do, especially in the first series,” he says.
Story courtesy of New Zealand Football.
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