Futsal in Sweden
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The origins of futsal in Sweden date back to 2001. At that time, some indoor football lovers contacted the Swedish Football Association (SFA) and asked them for advice on how to play indoor soccer more seriously with futsal. Also at that time, there was a proposal from the SFA development group not to adapt to futsal and to continue with five-a-side. The football lovers stopped this proposal and led them to further investigate futsal before taking a decision.
The indoor football lovers, now futsal lovers, contacted FIFA and UEFA for advice. They arranged a meeting with UEFA and were advised not to do anything that the SFA disliked. UEFA also advised them not to wait for SFA approval and to proceed with their own ideas of development. With UEFAs help they got a "letter of recommendation" from FIFA that said the group was "certified" as Swedish futsal developers. This letter opened up a many doors in the SFA and other institutions.
The group approached clubs, authorities, manufacturers, media and others who they thought could benefit from futsal. They launched a website, futsal.se that would serve as a portal for all futsal matters and put further pressure on the SFA to act. In 2002, they started the first Swedish futsal championship. They got 12 soccer clubs from Stockholm from the 2-4th division to participate. It stirred up some dust in the SFA who now had something to make a decision upon. As the football clubs increasingly liked futsal, SFA made a proposal to the soccer movement to adapt to futsal in favour of five-a-side in 2003.
Now, SFA rules futsal in Sweden with the network Swedish Futsal pushing on. Developments are ongoing.
