Evidence we can be a football powerhouse.

[Azeem98]

Ali Karimi is a good example of a great football player first playing futsal. I agree that playing football in a much larger field requires more physical strength. and that's why Karimi had to train hard in order to play football. But his futsal skills made him the player he was. Indeed nearly all Brazilian players start with street football in small pitches. So futsal can be regarded as a starting point. We are brilliant at that and that to me means our kids love playing football/futsal and we can be and should be among the top 10.

Your'e ignoring the obvious point. Can you bring the best out of Karimi in a football match by hiring a Futsal coach ?

[O-ZoNe]

I'm surprised you didn't cite our beach soccer team. I'm mean grass sand...no difference right?

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

[Payam_Ali]

Stop trolling. ""Kazakhstan is good at futsal and horrible at football""". Read the entire post before trolling. Do they have proper infrastructure, good facilities, and support? Probably less so that Iran.

Lol I did read the post and you’re making a classic correlation/causation mistake. You could look at the top volleyball teams in the world and you’d see the exact same correlation to football as you see with futsal.

[Roozbeh-G2006]

Your'e ignoring the obvious point. Can you bring the best out of Karimi in a football match by hiring a Futsal coach ?

I don't know why you are talking about coaches when I am simply talking about players. Of course coaching futsal and football are different. My point is in terms of footballing skills such as dribbling and passing and speed we are up there among the top football nations. Just look who is the top 10 with a few others who haven't invested in their football such as Iran, (recently seems to be doing a bit more minus sanctions) Russia, Kazakhstan. But if they did they would be. This can not be a coincidence. So there is a good correlation between futsal and football.

[Azeem98]

I don't know why you are talking about coaches when I am simply talking about players. Of course coaching futsal and football are different. My point is in terms of footballing skills such as dribbling and passing and speed we are up there among the top football nations. Just look who is the top 10 with a few others who haven't invested in their football such as Iran, (recently seems to be doing a bit more minus sanctions) Russia, Kazakhstan. But if they did they would be. This can not be a coincidence. So there is a good correlation between futsal and football.

I already said futsal is a good assesment of a player's individual skills in a similar way African teams dominate at U17 level which is the most raw stage of talent.
You talked about becoming a power house and just talent is not enough otherwise Spain would have won more than one World Cup by now.

[Roozbeh-G2006]

“If it wasn’t for futsal, I wouldn’t be the player I am today”.
Hard to imagine a better endorsement for our game than these words from 3-time FIFA World Player, Lionel Messi. However, Messi’s not the only player to owe a great debt to 5-a-side and Futsal soccer. The prestigious Futsal alumni includes Pele, Cristiano Ronaldo, Xavi, and Ronaldinho, and that’s but a mere sliver of the talent that Futsal helped produce.
Close quarters and continuous play combined with small pitches make for a perfect training ground in control and stamina, and while not all these players had the advantage of a facility like Ultimate Soccer, they found their pitches in the streets or indoor centres and nurtured their skills to take the world stage. Below we look at some of the best players to ever grace the world game who got their start playing Futsal.

Lionel Messi
Argentinian Lionel Messi, the star forward and all-time leading scorer for Barcelona owes plenty to Futsal in shaping his impressive career. Overcoming a growth hormone deficiency and taking the pitch for Barcelona at only 16, it was his time at Newell’s Old Boys Futsal club that gave him the “speed and relentless attacking style” that has become synonymous with his playing style. Messi himself fondly recollects his time at the Rosario based club; “as a little boy in Argentina, I played futsal on the streets and for my club…it really helped me become who I am today”. To pay homage to where he got his start, Messi funded the construction of a new gymnasium and dormitory in 2012 for Newell’s.

Pelé
Widely considered the best player of all time, Edson Arantes do Nascimento, known as Pelé, is the highest scoring player in history. He’s won an incredible amount of awards including World Player Of The Century, Football Player Of The Century, FIFA’s Ballon d’Or Prix d’Honneur (Golden Ball), and a placement in Time’s 100 Most Influential People of the 20th Century. Growing up in poverty, Pelé had to start with stuffed socks or a grapefruit as a replacement for a soccer ball he could not yet afford. In his mid teens he joined a Futsal team called Radium in his home town of Bauru. He recalls “it’s a lot quicker than football on grass. You have to think really quickly because everyone is close to each other”. At the age of 14 he was allowed to compete with adults and quickly ended up top scorer, citing “that gave me a lot of confidence. I knew then not to be afraid of whatever might come”.
Cristiano Ronaldo
Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo is another legend that got his start in Futsal. Generally accepted as the best player in the world currently, Manchester United legend George Best famously quoted of Ronaldo; “there have been a few players described as ‘the new George Best’ over the years, but this is the first time it’s been a compliment to me”. Growing up in the neighbourhood of Funchai, Madeira, Ronaldo says, “during my childhood in Portugal, all we played was futsal”. The Manchester United & Real Madrid forward claims the “the small playing area helped me improve my close control…if it wasn’t for futsal, I wouldn’t be the player I am today”. Praise from players, coaches, and official institutions have followed Ronaldo through his impressive career, and it all started with Futsal.
Xavi
Spanish all star midfielder, Xavier “Xavi” Hernandez Creus was the first player in Barcelona’s history to play 150 international matches and is considered one of the best midfielders of all time. Joining La Masia, the famous training academy of FC Barcelona, at 11yrs old, he now calls Qatari club Al Sadd home. When discussing the benefits of futsal with UEFA he states, “perhaps in regular football you cannot appreciate the talent. Everything is more physical. But in futsal you have small details of quality, class and tactical aspects”. It’s a sentiment that’s echoed by many in this list. It also drives home the point that with full field soccer, physical stamina and endurance are as important as control & strategy, but with futsal, close control, speed and dexterity reign supreme.
Ronaldinho
Much like Pelé, Ronaldinho (real name Ronaldo de Assis Moreira) grew up in a poor neighbourhood and turned to 5-a-side Futsal matches in the street from the age of 7 to hone what would later become his signature playing style, which is characterised by a remarkable close control of the ball. Discussing his time playing Futsal, Ronaldinho says “a lot of the moves I make originate from futsal…it’s played in a very small space and the ball control is different [to regular soccer]…to this day, my ball control is pretty similar to a futsal player’s control”. Barcelona teammate, Eiður Guðjohnsen, sums up Ronaldinho’s famous control, saying “when you play with him and see what he does with a ball, nothing surprises me any more. One of these days, he will make the ball talk”. From futsal in the streets of Porto Alegre to the world stage, the attacking midfielder has represented Brazil in over 97 matches, scoring 33 goals, and has had an incredible career across clubs Gremio, Paris Saitn-Germain, FC Barcelona, Milan, Flamengo, Altetico Mineiro, Queretaro and Fluminense.

Neymar
Sao Paulo native, Neymar (Neymar da Silva Santos Júnior), made waves by winning 4 consecutive Player of the Year awards by the time he was 21, and as with the players already discussed, Neymar joins the ranks of world class players that honed their craft in the streets of Brazil, and in futsal centres. Speaking to UEFA, he notes that “futsal helps a lot because you need to think quickly. It’s a more dynamic game and today in Europe there’s not much space so you need to think quicker”. Neymar is currently the forward/winger for FC Barcelona and is considered one of the sport’s greatest rising stars.
Micah Richards
Aston Villa captain and star centre back, Micah Richards, claims that it’s futsal that taught him how to turn defence into offence. Growing up in Leeds, Richards got into futsal after being told that it would help his close control of the ball: “We used to train with smaller balls and used to have to learn tricks and stuff like that…[it helps] with your touch and technique so that when it comes to playing with a bigger ball it is a lot easier…it helped my attacking and being comfortable on the ball going forward and trying to drive into positions”.
And here read about it on FIFA official site about futsal and football

[unique football]

I have always said it to my self if we are one of the best in futsal and beach soccer why cant we be on the best in football.

[Doctor DOOM]

spot on Babak jan.

just ONE MONTH of our funding of terrorism/warmongering in the region …. I repeat, JUST ONE MONTH, could revolutionize our football infrastructure in most major cities and raise our football by a couple of notches as a result.

[MR.S]

None of World's best managers had anything to do with Futsal professionaly.

Like thread opener me and others have mentioned, summerized: Yes futsal help you alot to become a skilled footballer but also like we mentioned you need a good organisation and resources

[Azeem98]

A Quote from Johan Cyruff
"Sure you can dribble the ball and do tricks with it, you can go and work in the circuis if you can do that but football is about using those tricks and dribble to pass the ball to your partner on his strong foot at the right time "

[Roozbeh-G2006]

A Quote from Johan Cyruff
"Sure you can dribble the ball and do tricks with it, you can go and work in the circuis if you can do that but football is about using those tricks and dribble to pass the ball to your partner on his strong foot at the right time "

This does not sound like an intelligent statement so you still need those skills in football.

[Roozbeh-G2006]

spot on Babak jan.

just ONE MONTH of our funding of terrorism/warmongering in the region …. I repeat, JUST ONE MONTH, could revolutionize our football infrastructure in most major cities and raise our football by a couple of notches as a result.

You seem to have all the facts and figures. You must tell us how much this JUST ONE MONTH funding equals to. I really would love to know.

[Roozbeh-G2006]

In my opinion football is moving more and more to be athletic than dribbling skills.
just compare football in 2002 and 2018.
back then it was normal for players to dribble and do cool stuff with the ball during the game. now its about possession, passing skills and athletic skills! so its wrong to say we can get better football players of futsal.

We get better football players of Mahdavikia styleof thinking. People who invest in young age players. Nothing more

I hope you watched last night's game between Poland and Colombia. Colombia played a skilled dribbling and passing accurately and delicately (as you do in futsal) and Pols played a much more "Athletic skills". Pols got trashed. They would have conceded more goals if they played like that vs Spain/argentia or even Portugal. So my friend futsal is undeniably the root of the best and most beautiful football that we all love to watch.

[Sam khan]

Futsal is the root of football. That is where football starts. Futsal is that same street football kids play on the streets. That is where greatest footballers discover their feet and passion for football and move on to entertain the world football lovers with their skills and earn great money while doing that. In fact to find who and which nation is great at football you must look at futsal. And we the Iranians have been the undisputed champions of our continent year in year out since that championship started. We are currently ranked no 6 in the world. This is a good evidence that we have great footballers and we are a great football nation just like Brazil, Argentina, Italy, Spain. We are right there among these top football powerhouses there in terms of actual players skills. What we lack for our football is that proper infrastructure, good and plenty facilities all over the country, and support (from the government and parents).
I believe it is this fact that spurs great and greatest coaches to belive in our footballers and stay to achieve what we truly deserve to achieve, i.e to be always either in the quarter finals or semi finals or even the final of the world cup.

[ATTACH]18132[/ATTACH]

I have often wondered the same thing and this is how I interpret the difference in rankings:

Being born in England we forget how easy life is for us. Whether you like it or not it rains and grass grows like a weed everywhere you look. In your garden, on the road, on rubbish, everywhere. It just grows. So as a child as young as I can remember we were out and about and playing footy in the park. There's always a park with lush green grass within a few hundred metres of any house, and it's always free to use. So for the English (as with many countries) footy is easy. We go and kick a ball around every day just for fun. Every school has its own field.

I have visited Iran (only Tehran) and that's not the impression I get. Yes it's a beautiful country and there is greenery everywhere but it sort of has to be controlled. Like many other countries yes there is grass but it has to be watered, or you're not allowed to walk on it etc. I may be totally wrong here but my *guess* is that in Iran therefore it's slightly harder to just walk down the road and enter a field of free lush green grass and kick a ball around. (In some parts it may be easy, I don't know. Perhaps around the Caspian or northwest?). Schools (from what my cousins tell me) don't all have a green field but they have to book a sports place once a week. Etc. So if this is true then it makes sense that there is slightly less of a chance to have home grown talent. But when it comes to hiring a football hall that is the same in every country. It is no easier in England that it is in Iran presumably as it's just a building.

So in that case it's actually quite amazing that we have such a strong futsal team and if we had the same oppornities as green countries perhaps we'd be just as good in 11 a side grass games too.
I agree with the OP that our good ranking in futsal is indicative of the love the sport and the technical ability/build/etc of the Iranian people and there is no doubt that this will continue to translate. There's a reason for this I think:

When I visited Portugal I saw the kids there playing in small tight spaces on the street and they had to shoot in a goal the size of a dustbin. Now look at how good they are at football as a nation. Look at the skills their individual players have compared to English players. The technical ability etc. The same is true for Spain and south american countries. These guys practice in small streets and develop their skills in tight spaces. They twist and turn and show great agility. In England though our kids play on a big grass field with enormous adult size goals and cheer when we score like we've achieved something difficult. When my cousins came from Iran we were surprised as English players how great they were at dribbling the ball past us. They were technically much better than English kids and got straight into their school teams. They told us how they would play with a POTATO on small streets in Tehran... wow!!! I imagine this is similar to the poor kids in Brazil and how they become so good.

So yeah futsal I think definitely is a good indicator of what we can do.

My friends were shocked at our players' technical ability against the might of Spain. Little passes around the Spanish made them look normal. Knocking the ball through their legs etc.. This is the sort of thing English players don't do so well, but Iranians do.

With time we will be as good as a similar sized South American team. Of course there is always the problem of sanctions, politics, funding, etc that may play a part. But with time I'm sure we'll do better and better.