Futsal is one of the top sports in the World University Championships programme, with a significant interest from countries to participate and a high technical level.
News
All newsA surprise called Croatia
Two more days of thrilling futsal in Shanghai
Student-athletes from 16 countries to compete in the Shanghai 2024 FISU Futsal Championship
Events
FISU Technical Committee Chairs
slo
bra
Resources
The History of Futsal in FISU
At the first edition of the World University Futsal Championship (WUC) in Sao Paulo in 1984, “football en salle” or “football à cinq”, as it was called then, was considered a difficult sport because of its particular structure, international situation and also the lack of unification in its regulations. Despite these problems, the Sao Paulo WUC was of great importance for the enhancement of the image of FISU, seen as a pioneer in the establishment of new sports traditions. FISU and the Brazilian University Sports Association (CBDU) made large progress in terms of overcoming the problems in unifying the regulations between FIFA and FIFUSA. Another benefit of this championship was the promotion of university sports in Latin America, thanks to the participation of Brazil, Bolivia and Uruguay. Since that time, 11 other editions of this WUC have been successfully organised. It is true that futsal is a sport that is very practiced in universities. Most countries in the World University Futsal Championship present their best players, who also play a big role in their national team. The women’s tournament was launched at the 2010 championship in Novi Sad, Serbia. It attracted 72 players.
In terms of FISU competitions, Futsal is today among those sports that draw the greatest number
of teams and have a very high technical level. It was not always the case. During the first edition
of the FISU World University Futsal Championship in Sao Paulo (Brasil) in 1984, “football en
salle” or “football à cinq”, how it was then called, was considered as a difficult sport because of
its particular structure, international situation, and also because of the lack of unification in its
regulations. Despite these problems, the inaugural Championship was of great importance for
the image of FISU, which was greatly enhanced. FISU was seen as a pioneer in the establishment
of new sports traditions. FISU and the Brazilian University Sports Federation (CBDU) made
significant progress in terms of overcoming the problems in unifying the regulations between
FIFA and FIFUSA. Another benefit of this Championship was the promotion of University Sports
in Latin America, thanks to the participation of Brazil, as well as of Bolivia and Uruguay.
Since that time, 13 other editions of this Championship have been organised. All of them have
had splendid success. It is true that Futsal is a sport that is very practiced at universities. Most
countries in the World University Futsal Championship present their best players, who also play
a big role in their national team. In 2008, while the 11th Championship Men’s Futsal took place in
Koper (Slovenia), the 1st Championship Women’s Futsal was hosted in Vitoria (Brazil).
It was so successful that from the Championship in Novi Sad, Serbia, in 2010, the women’s
tournament was integrated into the Championship, which hosted 72 players. Edition after edition,
this event set a new record of the participation, and the 2018 Championship Futsal in Almaty
(KAZ) wasn’t an exception, with 335 athletes. The 2020 Championship Futsal was supposed to
take place in Poznan, Poland and was unfortunately cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The 2022 edition took place in Braga-Guimaraes (POR) and the 2024 FISU Championship will be
held in Shanghai (CHN).