Futsal (also known as fútsal or footsal) is a variant of association football played on a hard

court, smaller than a football pitch, and mainly indoors. It has similarities to five-a-side football.
Futsal is played between two teams of five players each, one of whom is the goalkeeper. Unlimited
substitutions are permitted. Unlike some other forms of indoor football, the game is played on a hard
court surface delimited by lines; walls or boards are not used. Futsal is also played with a smaller,
harder, low-bounce ball. The surface, ball and rules together favour ball control and passing in small
spaces. The game's "emphasis is on improvisation, creativity and technique".

"Futsal" started in 1930 when Juan Carlos Ceriani, a teacher in Montevideo, Uruguay, created a
version of indoor football for recreation in YMCAs. This new sport was originally developed for
playing on basketball courts, and a rule book was published in September 1933. Football was
already highly popular in the country and after Uruguay won the 1930 World Cup and gold medals in
the 1924 and 1928 Summer Olympics, it attracted even more practitioners. Ceriani's goal was to
create a team game that could be played indoor or outdoor but that was similar to football.
Ceriani, writing the rule book, took as examples the principles of football (the possibility to touch the
ball with every part of the body except for the hands), and he took rules from other sports too:
from basketball the number of team players (five) and the game duration (40 actual minutes);
from water polo the rules about the goalkeeper; from team handball for the field and goal sizes.
The YMCA spread the game immediately throughout South America. It was easily played by
everyone, everywhere, and in any weather condition, without any difficulty, helping players to stay in
shape all year round. These reasons convinced João Lotufo, a Brazilian, to bring this game to his
country and adapt it to the needs of physical education.
Initially, the rules were not uniform. In 1956, the rules were modified by Habib Maphuz and Luiz
Gonzaga de Oliveira Fernandes within the YMCA of São Paulo, Brazil to allow seniors to
compete. Luiz de Oliveira wrote the Book of Rules of Fuitsal in 1956, then adopted also at the
international level.
In 1965, the Confederación Sudamericana de Fútbol de Salón (South American Futsal
Confederation) was formed, consisting of Uruguay, Paraguay, Peru, Argentina and Brazil.
Shortly after, a unique tournament was organized. It attracted some interest in South American
media, which regularly began to follow futsal. In particular, it was the journalist José Antônio Inglêz
who passionately contributed to the rapid spread of the game, as well as being credited as the man
who coined the name “futsal” to define the sport.

From FIFUSA to AMF

The sport began to spread across South America, and its popularity ensured the formation of a
governing body in São Paulo in 1971, under the name of Federación Internacional de Fútbol de
Salón (FIFUSA). FIFUSA initially comprised Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, Peru, Portugal, and
Uruguay, along with the World Championships. The new institution counted 32 participating
countries and its first President was João Havelange joined by the secretary Luiz Gonzaga de
Oliveira. In 1975, the Federation's chief passed to FIFA, and in 1980, Januário D'Alessio Neto was
elected to work to make this sport recognized worldwide by supranational bodies.
The first FIFUSA World Championships were held in São Paulo, Brazil, in 1982 with the hosting
Brazilian team crowned champions against Paraguay in front of an audience of 12,000 people, with
Uruguay placing third. The Federation then began to work to bring the big event to Europe. In 1985,
the second futsal World Cup was organized in Madrid, Spain, where the Brazilian team won again.
The event was a success, with a considerable media interest and a huge response from the
audience, thanks to the Spanish TV station that filmed the event.
In 1985, Joseph Blatter, at that time secretary of football's governing body, FIFA, thought it was the
right time to enlarge its influence and therefore also deal with indoor football. Knowing that the
Federation President João Havelange was the head of FIFUSA from 1971 to 1974, the Swiss
decided to summon in Brazil the world governing body of futsal: Surprisingly, the Congress voted

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against the unification. Due to a dispute between FIFA and FIFUSA over the name of fútbol, FIFUSA
has registered the word fut-sal in 1985 (Madrid, Spain).
FIFA wanted to promote and spread its own version of indoor football, different from the original one
played in the South American countries, but they could not manage to come to an agreement with
FIFUSA in the Rio de Janeiro Congress in 1989.
On 2 May 1990, the Brazilian federation finally broke away from FIFUSA, and on 25 September, an
event in Bogotá, Colombia contributed to the founding of the Confederación Panamericana de
Futbol de Salon (PANAFUTSAL) together
with Paraguay, Colombia, Mexico, Uruguay, Argentina, Venezuela, Costa Rica, Puerto
Rico, Bolivia, Ecuador, the Netherlands Antilles, Aruba, and Canada.
The conference held in Guatemala in 2000 between members of PANAFUTSAL and FIFA focused
on the resolution of the dispute between the two institutions and on the achievement of futsal in the
pure version that excited many in South America. The signing of the Protocol, however, was not
followed by concrete actions. FIFA kept on promoting its version of futsal. So the PANAFUTSAL
decided to create a new worldwide body for the preservation of futsal. In December 2002,
the Asociación Mundial de Futsal (AMF) was founded. It is currently composed of 40 national
federations and three continental bodies, one of which was FIFS.
In 2002, members of PANAFUTSAL formed AMF, an international futsal governing body
independent of FIFA, in reaction to the alleged stagnancy of futsal under FIFUSA.[6] Both FIFA and
AMF continue to administer the game.

Summary of rules
Length of the field
minimum 25 m × 16 m (82 ft × 52 ft), maximum 42 m × 25 m (138 ft × 82 ft).
Ball
Size 4, circumference 62–64 cm (24–25 in), weight between 400–440 g (14–16 oz) at the start of the
game. Dropped from a height of 2 m (6 ft 7 in), the first rebound must not be lower than 50 cm
(20 in) or more than 65 cm (26 in).
Time
There are two periods of 20 minutes with time stopping at every dead ball. Between the two periods
there is a break of 15 minutes. Each team may use one time-out per half, which lasts one minute.
Some lower leagues and tournaments use 24 minute periods with running time.
Number of players
There are five players for each team in the field, one of them as goalkeeper, and a maximum
number of 12 players that can be used each match. Substitutions are unlimited and on-the-fly.
Fouls
All direct free kicks count as accumulated fouls. A direct free kick is awarded for kicking, tripping,
charging, jumping, pushing, striking, tackling, holding, spitting, and deliberate handling. Indirect free
kicks, such as playing dangerously and impeding, do not count as accumulated fouls. A team is
warned by the referee when they commit five accumulated fouls in a half.

Cards
A caution can be shown for unsporting behavior, dissent, failure to respect the distance on a restart,
excessive delay of a restart, persistent infringement, or incorrectly entering/leaving the field of play .
A player or substitute can be sent off for serious foul play, violent conduct, spitting, illegally denying
an obvious goal-scoring opportunity, abusive language, and receiving a second caution. Sent-off
players are ejected from the game and their team must play short for two minutes or until the other
team scores a goal.
Free kicks
Taken from the spot of the infringement or on the line of the penalty area nearest the infringement
(indirect only). All opponents must be at least 5 m (16 ft) away from the ball. The kick must be taken
within four seconds or an indirect kick is awarded to the other team.
Kick from the second penalty mark

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Awarded when a team commits 6 or more accumulated fouls in a half. Second penalty mark is 10 m
(33 ft) from the goal, opponents must be behind the ball, goalkeeper must be at least 5 m (16 ft)
away.
Penalty kick
6 m (20 ft) from the center of the goal for fouls inside the 6 m (20 ft) goal keeper's area.
Goalkeeper
When in possession of the ball, the goalkeeper has 4 seconds to get rid of the ball. If the ball is kept
too long, the referee will give an indirect kick to the other team. The goalkeeper may play freely
when in the opponent's half.
Goalkeeper pass-back restriction
Once the goalkeeper has released the ball either by kicking or throwing, the goalkeeper may not
touch it again until the ball goes out of play or is touched by an opponent. The sanction for violation
is an indirect free kick. The goalkeeper may receive the ball freely when on the opponent's half.
Kick-in
A kick-in is used instead of a throw-in. The player must place the ball on the touchline or outside but
not more than 25 cm (9.8 in) from the place the ball when out of play. The ball must be stationary
and the kick-in must be taken within 4 seconds from the time the player is ready. During kick-in,
opponents must stand at least 5 m (16 ft) from the ball. If four seconds elapses or an illegal kick is
taken, the referee will award a kick-in to the other team. It is not allowed to score directly from a kick-
in: the goal is valid only if someone else touches the ball before it enters in goal.
Goal clearance
A goal clearance is used instead of a goal kick. The goalkeeper must throw the ball with their hands
and it must leave the penalty area within four seconds. If goal clearance is taken illegally the
goalkeeper may retry, but the referee will not reset the count. If four seconds elapses, the other team
gets an indirect kick on the penalty area line.
Corner kick
The ball must be placed inside the arc nearest to the point where the ball crossed the goal line and
the opponent must stand on field at least 5 m (16 ft) from the corner arch until the ball is in play. The
corner kick must be taken within 4 seconds of being ready or else a goal clearance will be awarded
to the other team. The ball is in play when it is kicked and moves.
Referees
For international matches, there must be two referees: one (first referee) is positioned on the
touchline near the timekeeper table and communicates with the timekeeper, while the other (second
referee) is in the opposite side of the field. At the timekeeper table there is a timekeeper and a third
referee, who controls the teams' benches. In minor events, the third referees and the timekeeper are
not used

Players, equipment and officials

The Brazil national futsal team line up before a match.

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There are five players on the field on each team, one of whom is the goalkeeper. The maximum
number of substitutes allowed is nine (FIFA change 2012), with unlimited substitutions during the
match. Substitutes can come on even when the ball is in play but the player coming off must leave
the field before the substitute can enter the playing field. If a team has or is reduced to fewer than
three players remaining, the match is abandoned and counted as a loss for the team with the lack of
players.
The kit is made up of a jersey or shirt with sleeves, shorts, socks, shinguards made out of metal,
plastic or foam, and shoes with rubber soles. The goalkeeper is allowed to wear long trousers and a
different coloured kit to distinguish themself from the other players on the team and the referee. The
goalkeeper is also allowed to wear elbow pads because the surface is about as hard as a tennis
court or basketball court. Jewellery is not allowed, nor are other items that could be dangerous to the
player wearing the item or to other active participants.
The match is controlled by the referee, who enforces the Laws of the Game, and the first referee is
the only one who can legally abandon the match because of interference from outside the field. This
referee is assisted by a second referee who typically watches over the goal lines or assists the
primary referee with calls on fouls or plays. The decisions made by the referees are final and can
only be changed if the referees think it is necessary and play has not restarted. There is also a third
referee and a timekeeper who are provided with equipment to keep a record of fouls in the match. In
the event of injury to the second referee, the third referee will replace the second referee.

The field

A futsal field
The field is made up of wood or artificial material, or similar surface, although any flat, smooth and
non-abrasive material may be used. The length of the field is in the range of 38–42 m (125–138 ft),
and the width is in the range of 20–25 m (66–82 ft) in international matches. For other matches, it
can be 25–42 m (82–138 ft) in length, while the width can be 16–25 m (52–82 ft), as long as the
length of the longer boundary lines (touchlines) are greater than the shorter boundaries where the
goals are placed (goal lines) (Basketball courts of 28 m × 15 m (92 ft × 49 ft) can be used). The
"standard" size court for an international is 40 m × 20 m (131 ft × 66 ft) (the size of a handball field).
The ceiling must be at least 4 m (13 ft) high.
A rectangular goal is positioned at the middle of each goal line. The inner edges of the vertical goal
posts must be 3 m (9.8 ft) apart, and the lower edge of the horizontal crossbar supported by the goal
posts must be 2 m (6.6 ft) above the ground. Nets made of hemp, jute or nylon are attached to the
back of the goalposts and crossbar. The lower part of the nets is attached to curved tubing or
another suitable means of support. The depth of the goal is 80 cm (31 in) at the top and 1 m (3.3 ft)
at the bottom.

A futsal arena in Tokyo

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In front of each goal is an area known as the penalty area. This area is created by drawing quarter-
circles with a 6 m (20 ft) radius from the goal line, centered on the goalposts. The upper part of each
quarter-circle is then joined by a 3.16 m (10.4 ft) line running parallel to the goal line between the
goalposts. The line marking the edge of the penalty area is known as the penalty area line. The
penalty area marks where the goalkeeper is allowed to touch the ball with hands. The penalty mark
is six metres from the goal line when it reaches the middle of the goalposts. The second penalty
mark is 10 metres (33 ft) from the goal line when it reaches the middle of the goalposts. A penalty
kick from the penalty spot is awarded if a player commits a foul inside the penalty area. The second
penalty spot is used if a player commits their team's sixth foul in the opposing team's half or in their
own half in the area bordered by the halfway line and an imaginary line parallel to the halfway line
passing through the second penalty mark; the free kick is taken from the second penalty mark.
Any standard team handball field can be used for futsal, including goals and floor markings.
Duration and tie-breaking methods
A standard match consists of two equal periods of 20 minutes. The length of either half is extended
to allow penalty kicks to be taken or a direct free kick to be taken against a team that has committed
more than five fouls. The interval between the two halves cannot exceed 15 minutes.
In some competitions, the game cannot end in a draw, so away goals, extra time and kicks from the
penalty mark are the three methods for determining the winner after a match has been drawn. Away
goals mean that if the team's score is level after playing one home and one away game, the team
which has scored more away goals wins. Extra time consists of two periods of five minutes. If no
winner is produced after these methods, three kicks from the penalty mark are taken, and the team
that has scored the most wins. If it is not decided after three kicks from the penalty mark, it continues
to go on with one extra kick from the penalty mark to each team at a time until one of them has
scored more goals than the other. Unlike extra time, the goals scored in a shoot-out do not count
towards the goals scored throughout the match.
The start and restart of play
At the beginning of the match, a coin toss is used to decide who will start the match. A kick-off is
used to signal the start of play and is used at the start of the second half and any periods of extra
time. It is also used after a goal has been scored, with the other team starting the play. After a
temporary stoppage for any reason not mentioned in the Laws of the Game, the referee will drop the
ball where the play was stopped, provided that, before the stoppage, the ball was in play and had
not crossed either the touch lines or goal lines.
If the ball goes over the goal line or touchline, hits the ceiling, or the play is stopped by the referee,
the ball is out of play. If it hits the ceiling of an indoor arena, play is restarted with a kick-in to the
opponents of the team that last touched the ball, under the place where it hit the ceiling.
Lack of offside rule
Unlike football, there is no offside rule in futsal. Attackers can get much closer to the goal than they
can in the traditional outdoor version of football.
Misconduct

Players are cautioned with a yellow card and sent off with a red card.

A direct free kick can be awarded to the opposing team if a player succeeds or attempts to kick or
trip an opponent, jumps, charges or pushes an opponent, or strikes or attempts to strike an
opponent. Holding, touching or spitting at an opponent are offenses that are worthy of a direct free
kick, as are sliding in to play the ball while an opponent is playing it or carrying, striking or throwing
the ball (except the goalkeeper). These are all accumulated fouls. The direct free kick is taken where
the infringement occurred, unless it is awarded to the defending team in their penalty area, in which
case the free kick may be taken from anywhere inside the penalty area. A penalty kick is awarded if
a player commits one of the fouls that are worthy of a direct free kick inside their own penalty area.

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The position of the ball does not matter as long as it is in play but for a penalty kick, the ball must be
on the outer line, perpendicular to the center of the net.
An indirect free kick is awarded to the opposing team if a goalkeeper clears the ball but then touches
it with their hands before anyone else, if the goalkeeper controls the ball with hands when it has
been kicked to them by a teammate, or if they touch or control the ball with hands or feet in their own
half for more than four seconds.
An indirect free kick is also awarded to the opposing team if a player plays in a dangerous manner,
deliberately obstructs an opponent, prevents the goalkeeper from throwing the ball with hands or
anything else for which play is stopped to caution or dismiss a player. The indirect free kick is taken
from the place where the infringement occurred.
Yellow and red cards are used in futsal. The yellow card is to caution players over their actions. If
they get two, they are given a red card, which means they are sent off the field. A yellow card is
shown if a player shows unsporting behaviour, dissent, persistent infringement of the Laws of the
Game, delaying the restart of play, failing to respect the distance of the player from the ball when
play is being restarted, infringement of substitution procedure or entering, re-entering and leaving
the field without the referee's permission. A player is shown the red card and sent off if they engage
in serious foul play, violent conduct, spitting at another person, or denying the opposing team a goal
by handling the ball (except the goalkeeper inside their penalty area). Also punishable with a red
card is denying an opponent moving towards the player's goal a goalscoring opportunity by
committing an offence punishable by a free kick or a penalty kick and using offensive, insulting or
abusive language or gestures. A player who has been sent off must leave the vicinity of the field.
A substitute player is permitted to come on two minutes after a teammate has been sent off, unless
a goal is scored before the end of the two minutes. If a team with more players scores against a
team with fewer players, another player can be added to the team with an inferior number of players.
If the teams are equal when the goal is scored or if the team with fewer players scores, both teams
remain with the same number of players.