Futebol de Salao: Demonstrated training benefits for young soccer players in Canada

Living in Canada provides many challenges for our young soccer players. The long winters mean that we inevitable have to move inside to maintain training programs from October-April. The climate has in the past been used as a reason behind Canada’s lack of progress on the world stage. However, with Nordic countries such as Denmark and Norway (with populations of less than 5 million) ranking 28th and 32nd respectively in FIFA’s world rankings, compared to Canada ranked 56th, climate is not the only challenges we face.

Canada will only begin to develop a regular supply of top players once there is increased emphasis on technical development and skill development versus “winning games” at the youth levels. During the last 12 months in Burlington, Ontario we have been training our young players in the “Brazilian Soccer Schools” philosophy.

Robinho (Brazil and Manchester City)
"I played Futebol de Salão for many years and it helped me to become the player I am today. There you don't have time to think, you are always tightly marked and you develop a sense for performing in small spaces."

Brazilian Soccer Schools (BSS) is aimed at children from aged 5 to 16+. -1The central aim of the schools is to encourage children to spend longer working with the ball and practicing and developing their skills. The training ethos mirrors that of Brazil in that young players are encouraged to spend as much time as possible with the ball developing their skills. Our indoor training sessions are very fast and normally incorporate the use of samba music to maintain an exciting, progressive and enjoyable atmosphere.

The BSS syllabus covers every area of soccer and while our coaching is by no means exclusively Brazilian there are 4 key aspects that have their origins in Brazil:

1)Futebol de Salão
2)Emphasis on Individual Skills
3)Increased time training
4)Physical Training

The game of Futebol de Salao has played an important role in the skills improvements achieved by our young players. Futebol de Salao (football of the hall) is a fast moving five-a-side game originated from Brazil. The game is played without rebound boards on a hard basketball court-sizes pitch using a specially designed ball.

Brazil Coach Quoted in Daniel Coyle’s Book “The Talent Code”
“No time plus no space equals better skills. Futebol de Salao (Futsal) is our national laboratory of improvisation.”.

The nature of the game and the design of the ball combine to make Futebol de Salao an exciting sport suitable for both girls and boys. This and the associated training and coaching methods, focus on developing players that are creative, skilful and confident.

The game is played with a specially designed ball. It differs from a conventional ball in a number of ways: it is smaller (size 2) than a conventional ball (size 5), heavier and is filled with foam to reduce its bounce (10%). This encourages the players to use their soccer skills and to increase the use of dribbling and short-passing throughout a game.

Following FIFA's decision to promote the game of Futsal (5-a-side played with a size 4 ball with 20-25% rebound) Futebol de Salão has virtually died out in South America and is now developed globally through the International Confederation of Futebol de Salão (ICFDS) who see the game as being the best start for children in soccer.

Academic research has confirmed that Futbol de Salao provides young soccer players with greater opportunities to perform basic individual skills such as dribbling, passing and control more successfully.

A few weeks ago, we launched our first indoor Futebol De Salao league in Burlington on Saturday mornings. The players are now demonstrating increased confidence with the ball at their feet, incorporating several of the moves that they have learned and use the bottom part of the foot frequently to retain possession when faced with tight spaces and increased pressure from the opposition.

Moving indoors during the winter months and playing Futebol de Salao can provide our young players in Canada with increased opportunities to develop their technical skills gain greater enjoyment from the game.