Development | Womens Futsal Festival

The first-ever Women’s Futsal Festival took place on Saturday 19^th February and was hosted by University of Stirling. The event was delivered in partnership with the Scottish FA. Alongside a development workshop, three student teams took part in a tournament alongside Boroughmuir Thistle U19s, in what was an outstanding showcase of high quality futsal.

The Futsal Development Workshop took place with guest speakers educating and informing existing players, and some that were new to the sport. Steve Chatila, founder of Perth Youth Futsal and coach at University of Edinburgh, kicked off the workshop with a talk on tactics and coaching. Steve used his experience of coaching in the Champions League to inspire a new generation of female coaches in the game. Gordon McCabe, a SFA, UEFA and FIFA Futsal referee, gave an update on changes to the laws of the game, and explained the refereeing pathway while outlining the fantastic opportunities to travel the world for officials. The final presentation was from Beth McKay, former University of Stirling student and now football player for Heart of Midlothian. Beth also plays futsal for Northern Ireland and she spoke about her career and the positive impact of a dual pathway for futsal and football players.

The round robin tournament took place in the afternoon, with the student teams named “Amandinha”, “Peque” and “Ana Catarina” after some of the top female players in the world. Teams comprised student players from the University of Strathclyde, University of Stirling, University of Edinburgh, the University of the West of Scotland, University of St Andrews and City of Glasgow College. These teams were joined in the draw by a representative squad from Boroughmuir Thistle U19s, many of whom were participating in futsal for the first time.

Goals quickly began to flow with Amandinha and Peque drawing 2-2, before Boroughmuir then claimed their first victory with a 6-0 win over Ana Catarina. Amandinha also beat Ana Catarina (3-0), followed by a very close game that ended in a win for Boroughmuir against Peque (1-0). Peque got their first win against Ana Catarina (3-0) before the final group game  saw Amandinha beat Boroughmuir (3-1).

In between matches, the teams took part in a penalty shootout challenge, with players having 10 seconds to drive the ball from the halfway line and score. This gave players an opportunity to showcase their futsal skills but also showcased the high standard of goalkeeping on display. The first shootout saw Amandinha beat Ana Catarina (1-0), followed by a victory for Boroughmuir against Peque (1-0). After the playoffs, Ana Catarina managed to come in third place in the challenge after beating Peque (3-2), whilst Boroughmuir secured first place against Amandinha (2-0).

The group stage finished with Amandinha in 1st place followed by Boroughmuir, Peque and Ana Catarina. In the third-place playoff, Peque finally started to click despite not having any subs, and comfortably beat Ana Catarina (10-0). The final saw another comeback win for Amandinha against Boroughmuir (4-2), meaning that the leaders of the round robin cemented themselves as champions!

Overall, this tournament provided our student teams with the opportunity to play against different opponents and with different teammates. This also introduced youth football players to futsal in the hope to promote the sport nationally.

Watch the video below to hear more about the day…

Filming by YFS Media.