Futsal's coming home...

By Celso de Campos Jr
published

ThereâÂÂs two legends surrounding the origins of futsal, whose FIFA World Cup started this week in Brazil.

The first dictates the sport was created in the 1930âÂÂs in Uruguay by Montevideo YCMAâÂÂs professor Juan Carlos Ceriani. The second tells that it first appeared in São Paulo, also inside the YCMA, by some lads who started kicking a football about in a basketball court, late in the 1940âÂÂs.

Fact is it was in Brazil, in 1952, that the futebol de salãoâÂÂs first organisation was assembled â the São PauloâÂÂs YCMA Salon Football League, founded by Habib Maphuz. (In Uruguay, there was no organised futsal until 1965.)

Maphuz was also the mastermind behind the rules of the indoor game â the most defining of them to change from the standard-size football to a smaller, heavier one, to prevent it from bouncing and going out of bounds all the time.

So if futsal isnâÂÂt coming home, with the FIFA World Cup in Rio de Janeiro and Brasília, itâÂÂs right there next door.

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Celso de Campos Jr