World Cup & World Class Games


NNSW Futsal is affiliated with Australian Futsal Association (AFA), the biggest FUTSAL-ONLY governing body in Australia. Australia.   

Futsal started in Montevideo, Uruguay, in 1930 when Juan Carlos Ceriani created a version of indoor football for recreation in YMCAs. In 1965 the Confederation Sudamericana de Futbol de Salon (South American Futsal Confederation) was formed, consisting of Uruguay, Paraguay, Peru, Argentina and Brazil.

The sport began to spread across South America, and its popularity ensured that a governing body was formed under the name of FIFUSA (Federación Internacional de Fútbol de Salón) in 1971, comprising Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, Peru, Portugal and Uruguay, along with the World Championships. The first FIFUSA World Championships were held in São Paulo, with hosts Brazil crowned champions ahead of Paraguay and Uruguay. Even more, countries participated in the second World Championships held in Madrid in 1985.

Due to a dispute between FIFA and FIFUSA over the name of fútbol, FIFUSA registered the word fut-sal in 1985 (Madrid, Spain). In the 90s, FIFA wanted to promote and spread its version of indoor football, different from the original one played in South American Countries but didn’t manage to find an agreement with FIFUSA in the Rio de Janeiro Congress in 1989. In 2000, there was an attempt to repair the situation in Guatemala while FIFA was celebrating its fifth World Championship in this country.

In 2002 FIFUSA was reorganised into AMF. In 2016 AFA and several other world bodies from both AMF and FIFA left their respective organisations to concentrate on Futsal only.

The International Futsal Alliance, with members from every continent, has now been formed, with its Under 17 World cup being hosted by Scotland in 2016.

Over 60 countries worldwide are now part of this organisation, providing to our members with plenty of opportunities and pathways for advancing their game of Futsal. It is hoped that one day, Futsal may even be held at the Olympics.

AFA is still offering 17, 20, Women’s and Men’s World cup and other world-class games, such as the Pacific Cup, International World Cup, Borneo Cup and China Cup, which is similar to the Asian cup, as extra pathways for its members.

The strength of Futsal in NNSW/Central coast NNSW Futsal has had many of the players participate in club and International tournaments.

In 2016 our Australian Under 17 Boys, with 7 seven local boys from Newcastle and the Central Coast, won the Under 17 World Cup held in Scotland.

In the same year, President George Poulos was appointed ASA  Men’s Senior coach leading into the World Cup, which was held in China!

In 2017 our Australian Women’s team, with one of our local girls, were Runners up in the Women’s world cup held in Spain.

In 2017 the Newcastle Titans, as National club and state champions, will compete in the IFA version of the Asian Cup in China. They were Runners.

In 2018 the Youth World cup was held in Spain for the men while the women played in Hawaii, USA. Our NNSW Women’s coach, Mick Psaris, was the coach for the girls who came runners up, and our NNSW Futsal manager Manny Tserepas was the assistant coach for the Youth Men who won the Youth world cup.

In 2018 the Newcastle Titans Men will compete in the Intercontinental  World Club Championships in Spain. Came seventh in a world-class competition with teams from Brazil, Kazakhstan, France, Spain, Scotland, USA, Columbia, India and Chile. Titans came second and were rewarded the best and fairest team of the tournament.

In 2019 Newcastle Titans were back again at the International World cup in Spain and improved to be Fifth and, in the process, knocked out more fancied teams like Columbia and France.

In 2019 the first IFA Men’s World Cup was held in China, where 4 of our NNSW Futsal men were in a team of 12 to compete. Australia came 4th in the playoff for 3rd and fourth.

In 2020 and 2021, the world was turned upside down by Covid, and no international games were played.

In 2022, with things still not 100% back to normal, the World Championships tournament was held in Spain with an Australian team of under 14 (three being from NNSW ), an under 17 team with one NNSW player, a youth team with two NNSW players, a Women’s team with one and a men’s team with four NNSW Players all representing NNSW. A great result shows our progress and ability to develop our players for the world stage. Our AFA Women and Youth teams won the championships while our Men, still coached by George Poulos, were runners-up.

Going forward, NNSW Futsal is committed and will continue to provide excellent coaching and opportunities for the elite player to represent their region, state, and country.  
                                     
HAVE YOU GOT WHAT IT TAKES?