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Futsal Grant Will Create New Youth Futsal Leagues in Devon

We have been awarded a Futsal Fund Grant enabling us to start new Youth Futsal Divisions within our existing Youth Leagues

Youngsters in Devon will soon be given the chance to try out Futsal for the first time thanks to £3,000 of funding from The Football Association.

In June, The FA made £300,000 available to County Football Associations, FA-affiliated clubs, youth and adult football leagues who wished to develop either one or two new Futsal leagues, as they ramped up efforts to encourage more people to play the sport in England.

The scheme, which is delivered by the Football Foundation, awarded Devon County FA twice the standard grant, as uniquely every youth league shares our vision of creating youth leagues across the County, particularly in the winter months.  The money will support facility hire, equipment, and FA-affiliated courses for coaches and referees, and see the creation of youth futsal leagues in Plymouth, Paignton, Cranbrook, Exeter, Bideford, Barnstaple and Ilfracombe.  Devon FA’s 10 Futsal Partner Clubs are also supporting the set-up of these.

Futsal is the UEFA and FIFA recognised format of five- a- side football but it differs from the version that we know in this country. It is played on a firm indoor pitch, with Hockey sized goals. It is played to lines rather than walls or boards and the ball differs in being slightly smaller and with a reduced bounce.

Taken together these differences lead to a game that is fast, skilful and tactical. For these reason Futsal is being adopted as a game in its own right as well as useful development experience for young footballers.

A number of football’s biggest names credit Futsal as playing a significant role in their professional football development, with Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Xavi Hernandez and Ronaldinho having all played the sport in their younger years.

Dai Carpenter, Senior Development Officer at Devon County FA said: “Futsal is great for skills and decision making in young players, and this funding from the Football Foundation will help us to introduce it within every youth league in Devon and train around 100 managers on how to use it for developing players.”

About the Football Foundation:

Founded in 2000, the Football Foundation is the largest sports charity in the UK funded by the Premier League, The FA and Government, via Sport England. It develops new and refurbished grassroots sports facilities in order to improve the quality and experience of playing sport at the grassroots level. Since it was launched in 2000, the Foundation has awarded over 17,000 grants worth more than £682m towards improving grassroots sport, which it has used to attract additional partnership funding of £878m – totalling over £1.5bn of investment into the grassroots game.

By providing more high-quality facilities, coupled with coaching at the appropriate age group, the Football Foundation aims to improve the experience for regular players as well as attracting new players to the game. Many of the new state-of-the-art facilities will serve to strengthen the connection between professional football clubs and their local communities, particularly in the most deprived areas of the country, through the professional clubs’ community trusts’ outreach work.