West Cumbria Futsal, in association with the West Cumbria Youth League, will be commencing the first ever Junior Futsal League in the region later this month.

Cumberland FA are delighted to support this new initiative to build on the foundations of Futsal already put in place in West Cumbria over the previous few seasons along with the recent FA Level 1 in Futsal supporting local Junior coaches with their knowledge of the format.

In partnership with the West Cumbria Youth League almost 100 teams have been playing Futsal throughout the winter months, from Under 7s to Under 11s (along with girls at all age groups).

More information about the Futsal League

Futsal has so many benefits to develop a footballers skill and thought process that most top clubs use it in their training sessions and the benefit of it being played indoors means it can be played all year round regardless of the weather.  The pitch and ball size aid development in football players as the ball is smaller with a reduced bounce to encourage greater ball control skills and the pitch creates lots more opportunities of playing out of tight spaces and also creates more touches on the ball. A statistical study carried out comparing Futsal to traditional 5 aside indoor football with walls shows that players on average touched the ball 210% more times in Futsal!

The laws of the game also encourage quick skilful attacking play whilst punishing physical contact fouls. These laws support the players in gaining knowledge and technical ability very quickly and also encourages them to respect all players and officials.

The West Cumbria Futsal League will not be run like a traditional 9 month long season – it will be short and sharp, just like the game!

The new league will be run over short periods several times a year allowing for the league to be creative in the future with its set up e.g. World Cup Final style set up, knockout cups, mini leagues, Rugby 7's style tournaments etc. the list is endless and this way teams can drop in and out of the league as and when they want and with the matches being played mid-week there will be no clashes with weekend football fixtures.

The initial league has been set up as a mini league for the Under 12 teams who will compete over 8 weeks at the Lakes College, Lillyhall.

Thanks to Cumberland FA, the winners will go onto represent West Cumbria at The FA National Youth Futsal Regional Finals at the end of May at Tranmere Rovers FC's new state of the art Futsal hub. That will be a very special day out for the team that gets there and one that will no doubt create amazing memories for all involved.

West Cumbria Futsal will be extending the league to other age groups and numbers in the future so if any teams would like to be involved in any future events then please get in touch at WestCumbriaFutsal@gmail.com to register your interest.

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