An illustration featuring four footballing giants has ignited the anger of players, clubs, and coaches just one day before the start of the 10th World Championship in Uzbekistan.
FIFA has once again disrespected futsal by promoting the World Championship with a poster that only includes football stars. It’s a recurring theme, but this time, they’ve done it on the eve of the start of the 10th edition of the World Cup for a sport that is fighting against a narrative that insists on demeaning it as “the sport that has contributed to the development of some of the biggest stars in football”.
That was literally the text included by FIFA in its social media posts with a poster that has sparked controversy. Additionally, to increase interest in the Futsal World Cup, an illustration featuring Neymar, Leo Messi, Xavi Hernández, and Cristiano Ronaldo was included. It’s common to use football figures to praise futsal, but this was the final straw.
“We’re still just a small-scale version,” stated Daniel Ibañes, one of the legends of world futsal who could have appeared on that poster alongside Paulo Roberto, Falcao, or Ricardinho. There are so many futsal stars, ambassadors, and influencers to choose from that FIFA’s footballing ignominy has unleashed a wave of criticism on social media, invoking a diminutive and derogatory term from another era for futsal.
Another international player, Rafa Usín, was blunt: “That this is the poster for the biggest event in the world of futsal is lamentable. It’s clear that we’re still just a small-scale version, until we’re able to get rid of that stigma we won’t just fail to progress, but we’ll go backwards.” Even the best player in the world, the Brazilian Amandinha, posted a scathing message: “There are things you just can’t believe.”
The captain of the debutant France, Kevin Ramírez, was the bravest of the 336 players from the 24 teams in Uzbekistan and called for respect on his X account. Exemplary was the reaction of Palma Futsal, two-time UEFA Futsal Champions League and Intercontinental Cup winners, who joined the hashtag #RespectForFutsal.
The Mallorcan team’s coach, Antonio Vadillo, went further and said that “it’s not so difficult to care a little bit about our sport to find the idols of futsal, players who are World Cup winners and have many titles, players who have left a legacy with their sporting career” and asked “please, it’s okay that we’re not Olympic, that you’re our barrier, but I insist please, don’t disrespect us any more as a sport.”
Another Andalusian coach, Dani Rodríguez (Jaén Paraíso Interior) was also particularly accurate in the midst of the open debate with the rule changes. “And we still think that this depends on a throw-in with the foot or with the hand…”, he declared. The coach of Industrias Santa Coloma, Xavi Closas, also couldn’t believe it: “It’s not serious to do this with the biggest event in the world of futsal and then we want to be Olympic. Maybe they’ll promote us with someone rowing or skiing.”
Illustrious former players like Álvaro Aparicio did not hesitate to speak out: “We are another sport, with other athletes.” FIFA didn’t care about the viral storm and the main news in the run-up to the World Cup in Uzbekistan was an interview with the Colombian Richard Ríos and the recurrent obsession of showing futsal as a tool to reach football, ignoring an infinity of idols like Sergio Lozano, Ferrao, Pito or Pany Varela.
Outraged futsal fans have even created alternative posters to FIFA’s with legends of the sport like Ferrao, Cuzzolino, Ricardinho, and Javi Rodríguez, which are being shared as a sign of protest by numerous coaches and players on social media. The Costa Rican coach, Alex Ramos, posted that “with all due respect to everyone, don’t mess with us, futsal is not football, we have our own history and our own stars.”
The opening match on Saturday The 10th FIFA Futsal World Cup will kick off on September 14th and will last until October 6th. Portugal is defending the title they won three years ago in Lithuania against the historical urgency of Spain and Brazil to regain planetary hegemony after winning the first seven editions and passing the baton in 2016 to Argentina.
Uzbekistan, the Netherlands, Paraguay, and Costa Rica will compete in one of the most open groups, Group A, which will kick off on Saturday with the first two matches. In Group B, five-time champions Brazil share a group with Cuba, Croatia, and Thailand. The Brazilians’ showdown against the Cubans will be the highlight of the first day.
On Sunday, it will be the turn of the two-time champions, Spain – with Fede Vidal on the bench – against Kazakhstan (2:30 pm, Teledeporte) in Group D, where New Zealand and Libya are also present. Afghanistan, in their first participation in FIFA since 1948, is paired with Argentina, champions in 2016, Ukraine, and Angola will also make their debut on Sunday in Group C.
Three current continental champions – Portugal, Panama, and Morocco – will join the debutant Tajikistan in Group E and will have to wait until Monday to enter the fray, as will Group F with Iran, Venezuela, Guatemala, and France, which is making its first strong entry into a World Championship.
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