Football is a beautiful game that has many variations. There is the traditional 11 v 11 games, minifootball, futsal, street soccer, indoor soccer, foosball and more. With so many variations of the game, we at Footsy would like to help you to understand a bit more on the differences between 2 of the more famous variations of the game.

Let’s get this straight, we are not here to take a stand that one form is better than the other (to each his own) but rather to educate so that everyone is more aware of the beautiful game that we all love. With our reach, we have found that there are plenty of misconceptions about futsal in particular so our aim is to try and address them.

We understand that there are plenty of pitches these days that are played outdoors in a 5 v 5 format and that may appear very similar to either variation but for the sake of this article, we will be focusing only on futsal and football.

Format

Football is played with 11 players through two-45 minute halves while futsal with 5 players through two-20 minute halves. There are only 3 substitutions allowed per team in football but futsal allows an unlimited number even when there is no stoppage in play (with the permission of the referee of course).

Futsal is played indoors on a wood or rubber floor (420 square meters) with stoppage to the clock when the ball is out of play while football is played on grass (7200 square meters) with no stop-clock. Players who have been sent off can be replaced after 2 minutes for futsal as well with each team able to call a time-out once throughout the entire game.

The ball played with in futsal is also one size smaller with about 30% reduced bounce, one of the key differences between the 2.

Nature of the game

To the uninitiated, the above may not come across as substantially different. After all, it is still just a bunch of players kicking around a ball right?

That could not be further away from the truth. The fact is that the 2 sports are very different from one another due to the size of the pitches they are played on. With a much smaller space and the flooring, futsal is played extremely quickly and technically. Needing to be technical does not necessarily mean that you would have to be able to do the skills that one sees on YouTube. In reality, those tricks are often not used in futsal matches.

Needing to be technical would mean that you would have to have a good first touch with the angle of the body being correct from the moment the ball is controlled among other things like movement off the ball and passing abilities. Futsal players will also have to be very well-drilled as one can be punished in a matter of seconds for switching off. Football on the other hand is played at a slower pace than futsal with more players getting on the ball.

Futsal may come off as incredibly strenuous (which is why it is played for only 40 minutes) but the truth is that football has its own set of challenges. The larger pitch means that players have to be more accurate over longer distances and also work with a higher number of players. To get a well-oiled team together is always easier when it is smaller which is probably why there is such a high attrition rate of football managers over the last couple of years.

Adaptability

Which sport’s players can adapt to the other better? The answer would have to be futsal. Through various experiments, it was shown that futsal players actually have a better aerobic capacity and are able to adapt to football easier as they have more time on the ball to make decisions rather than in futsal.

Football today is definitely more demanding these days as compared to the old days and perhaps might be a stretch for either set of players to adapt easily. However, technically speaking, adaptability should still lean closer to futsal players.

With such adaptability, it may be more prudent for kids to learn futsal first and then make the transition over to football to gain a better understanding of both sports.

Football is getting more demanding with players needing great technical abilities to make the cut. Futsal is a sport that may not be very popular all over the world but has the ready-made advantage for players looking to advance in their football life.