Football vs. Futsal — Are There Player Differences?
Mutiny’s executive director Rani Ghaziri is currently, although he might never have imagined it, “a soccer coach in America.” Nine v. nine games are the smallest sides he’s currently helming for Queen City Mutiny. Maybe it’s his way of combatting a trend he noticed in England during his university days.
In fact, Ghaziri did a dissertation examining the reasons why adult participation in 11-a-side football was decreasing in England whilst small-sided football and futsal was increasing. Futsal was a new sport at the time, so he used participant interviews and an online survey to add to research on player preferences for one or the other.
He came to some interesting conclusions:
“futsal participants possess more introvert traits, scoring higher than 11-a-side football participants for motives such as learning/developing new skills, challenging themselves and fitness”
“11-a-side football participants demonstrated more extrovert traits than futsal participants, scoring higher for motives such as earning money, winning trophies and socializing.”
Meanwhile, small-sided football participants scored higher for the external motive of socializing.
While his respondents noted barriers to playing futsal included: “lack of awareness, facilities, transport and location,” there was increasing interest. Ghaziri shared findings from another research study that "94% of respondents think that futsal is better than other versions of 5-a-side football, with 76% believing that futsal will become more popular than the traditional 5-a-side football version.”
Player Differences — Their Perspectives
So Ghaziri asked the players why they preferred one manner of playing over another. He found futsal players are believed to be more tactically aware, think more and be more technical players than 11-a-side football players. Those who play small-sided matches were also thought to require better technical skill than 11-a-side due to the smaller-sized pitches and enclosed spaces.
On the other hand, 11-a-side players were thought to require “more physicality and aggressiveness.” In fact, one of his respondents stated, “11-a-side is mob mentality” (but, before you get too worried about young Mutiny players, remember he was talking to Englishmen!).
This physicality was one reason, survey respondents believed “futsal participants tend to be slighter built, quicker and more agile.”
Finally, Ghaziri also sought to understand preference among those playing small-sided soccer versus football. His respondents suggested:
Futsal is less physical than small-sided football.
Futsal has a more positive environment with more respect for referee and officials in contrast to small-sided football.
Futsal is more technical and tactical in contrast to small-sided football which is more physical.
Outside of Ghaziri’s research, it’s interesting to note that another study recently released looked at differences in agility performance between futsal and soccer players. The Croatian scholars tested 82 participants and found that while “players in these two sports are very similar in agility performance,” there was greater “intensity exertion during the game” of futsal.
Key Takeaway
Many of Mutiny’s players enjoy futsal, we host a futsal tourney, and recognize the value of futsal in our training approach. Our players, too, in the off-season often compete (and crush it) in small-sided soccer competitions.
Ultimately, time with the ball and on the pitch is going to payoff in terms of skill and talent development. Nevertheless, we thought you might be interested in some evidence-based research into the different perceptions of each version’s participants. Oh, and learning that Ghaziri really does have academic cred to back up his opinions on everything soccer.
