Everyone has heard about the Soccer World Cup that happens every four years, but what about the Futsal World Cup? Although the latter has been going on since 1930, the former is a lot more recent and the first edition was only in 1989, which might be one of the reasons why it is more unknown. In Brazil, futsal is the most practiced sport in schools, and this dominance can be seen with how the nation ranks number one in the FIFA rankings for both men and women in the modality.
In the past month, the Men’s Futsal World Cup took place in Uzbekistan, with Brazil coming out as the winner in a thrilling final against Argentina and becoming the World Champion for the sixth time. No other country has won the competition more than two times, illustrating the dominance of Brazil in the sport. In this last competition, Brazil started off flying, getting first in its group after beating Cuba by 10-0, Croatia, as revenge for the last soccer World Cup, by 8-1, and Thailand by 9-1. In the round of 16, the high scoreboards continued, with Costa Rica being the next victim, losing by 5-0. However, in the quarter-finals, the team started facing better opponents, and in an extremely difficult game against one of the best teams in the tournament, Brazil beat Morocco by 3-1. In the semifinals against Ukraine Brazil even started losing, but eventually turned the scoreboard around and won the game by 3-2 in a battle that went on until the very last second. Lastly, in the final, Brazil faced off against Argentina, their South American rivals. The Canarinhos started off winning 2-0, but the game wasn’t easy and Willian Dorn, Brazil’s goalkeeper, was making countless amazing saves. When the game felt as if it were decided for Brazil, Argentina scored a goal, making the last few minutes of the final nerve-racking. Eventually, after some almost goals from Argentina and excellent saves from Willian, the final finally ended with Brazil winning 2-1.
Willian Dorn celebrating a save in the final against Argentina
The Futsal World Cup isn’t limited to the men's competition, in 2025 the Women's tournament will happen for the first time in history, and the Canarinhas are the heavy favorites to lift the title.
As seen with the creation of the Women's Futsal World Cup, Futsal keeps expanding each year and has become a global sport. FIFA has recently announced that it will ask the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to include both futsal and beach soccer in the Olympics. In the past years, fans have expressed their anger with ‘sports’ like break dancing being included in the Olympics while futsal, which is practiced by millions of people around the globe, keeps getting left in the dust.
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