Futsal is a format of five-a-side football that is played extensively throughout the world. Here, we cover the Australian national highlights of the 2010 season which concluded on the 29th January. The term *Futsal* is an abbreviation of the Portuguese *futebol de salao* or the Spanish *futbol sala*, both of which translated literally mean *indoor football*. It is played on a pitch approximately the size of a basketball or netball court with a ball which is smaller and heavier than the outdoor football and has a reduced bounce. In Australia, indoor soccer was introduced by Mrs. Dawn Gilligan in 1971, during a particularly wet winter when outdoor grounds were closed for long periods of time. The Revesby YMCA in Sydney was the first place where it was played and from there it spread to the others YMCA*s. In 1977 the Australian Indoor Soccer Association was created. In 1979 they affliated with FIFUSA and started to play with the official rules of futbol sala, one of the original forms of Futsal. The peak of indoor soccer in Australia occurred in the 80s with a televised National League and the 1988 FIFUSA World Cup in Melbourne. When in 1989 FIFA took over the sport and baptized it as Futsal, the Australian Indoor Soccer Association changed its name to Australian Futsal Association. Australia was one of the few countries in the world that had participated in all of the world cups until 2008 (where they did not qualify after moving from OFC to AFC) and it is estimated to have 18,000 registered players and 120,000 social participants in Futsal competitions all over the country.

Running Time: 58 mins

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