the futsal market | Brazil

1.1 Definition and scope of study

Futsal is a sport derived from football that is traditionally played on a small indoor pitch and involves two teams of five players. Although there may be a difference between the discipline of futsal and the activity of futsal, the name refers to indoor football complexes.

Futsal was created in Uruguay after the 1930 World Cup and is a recent phenomenon in Europe. Futsal was originally called football or literally indoor soccer and comes from the contraction between the Spanish or Portuguese word for "soccer" and the French or Spanish word for "indoor".

Futsal was developed in Brazil by the Young Men's Christian Association (ACM) in São Paulo. Due to the lack of available football pitches, athletes used basketball courts to practice the sport.

Today there are two major national competitions, the Futsal League and the Brazilian Futsal Cup, the latter being the oldest futsal competition in Brazil, with its first edition in 1968. In addition, each state federation organises its own state championship. Despite the sport's declining popularity since recent retirement of one of the greatest players of all time, futsal is still very much rooted in the country, with players of international renown and the world's top national team, demonstrating that the sport is still very profitable. [ VEJA ]