In 1895 Charles Miller, a railway worker, travelled from Southampton in England to São Paulo in Brazil. Miller carried two footballs and an FA rule book. Soon it caught on and Miller was behind the beginnings of structured football in Brazil. He is now revered as the Father of Brazilian football.
By the 1920's the game had become very popular throughout South America, but the big cities lacked space for grass football pitches. The development of Futebol de Salão can be traced back to 1930 in Montevideo, Uruguay, the same year the inaugural World Cup was held in the country. The credit for early forms of the game is given to Juan Carlos Ceriani who wanted a version of football to be played in YMCAs indoor gymnasiums. Futebol de Salão literally translates from Portuguese as "Hall Football" or "Room Football".
Credit is also given to a similar form of football being born on the Basket Ball and Hand Ball courts of Sao Paulo, Brazil. These forms of football were quickly adopted by the working class in the poor regions of South America, as Association Football was almost exclusively for the upper classes. The first common rules of Futebol de Salão were published in São Paulo in 1936.
FIFA's promotion of Futsal, an alternative version of indoor football, has lead to a 'slow death' in participation of Futebol de Salão in South America.
The game now is globally promoted and controlled through the International Confederation of Futebol de Salão (ICFDS), based in the UK and set up by Simon Clifford following a chance meeting with the Brazilian Footballer Juninho's father at a football match.
It is not just ICFDS keeping the traditions of Futebol de Salão alive and well.
All of the great Brazilian players came through Futebol de Salão. Below you can see the original Futebol de Salão Player Passports for Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Robinho and Lucio.
"This, Futebol de Salão, is how I really got started.
It is my first love. The thing I enjoyed the most."
- Ronaldo
- FIFA World Player of the Year : 1996 (youngest winner), 1997, 2002
- European Footballer of the Year (Ballon d'Or): 1997, 2002
- European Golden Boot: 1997
- Spanish LeagueTop Scorer: 1996-1997, 2003-2004
- Dutch League Top Scorer: 1994-1995
- FIFA World Cup All-time Record Goal Scorer - 15 Goals in 19 games
- 2002 FIFA World Cup Golden Boot - Top scorer - 8 goals
- 1998 FIFA World Cup Golden Ball - Best player
- 1998 FIFA World Cup Silver Boot - Second highest scorer - 4 goals
- FIFA World Cup winner - 1994, 2002
- Brazilian Cup: Cruzeiro 1993
- Dutch Cup: PSV Eindhoven 1996
- UEFA Cup Winners Cup: FC Barcelona 1997
- Confederations Cup winner - 1997
- Copa America: 1997, 1999
- UEFA Cup: Internazionale 1998
- Intercontinental Cup: Real Madrid 2002
- European Super Cup: Real Madrid 2002
- Copa del Rey: FC Barcelona 1997
- La Liga - Primera División champions: Real Madrid 2002/2003
- Spanish Super Cup: FC Barcelona 1996, Real Madrid 2003
"I developed my skills playing Futebol de Salão,
in my home town of Bauru."
- Pelé
- Campeonato Paulista champion in 1958, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1967, 1968, 1969 and 1973
- Torneio Rio-Sao Paulo champion in 1959, 1963 and 1964
- Taça de Prata champion in 1968
- Taça Brasil champion in 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964 and 1965
- Copa Libertadores champion in 1962 and 1963
- Intercontinental Cup 1962 and 1963
- South-American Recopa in 1968
- NASL champion in 1977
- FIFA World Cup champion in 1958, 1962, 1970
- Roca Cup: 1957, 1963
- Copa O'Higgins: 1959
- Copa Atlântica: 1960
- Named Athlete of the Century by the International Olympic Committee in 1999
- 2000, Pelé was named Footballer of the Century by FIFA
- Laureus World Sports Award Lifetime Achievement Award
- Pelé's goalscoring record is 1281 goals in 1363 games
"I played Futebol de Salão for many years and it helped me to become the player I am today. There you don't have time to think, you are always tightly marked and you develop a sense for performing in small spaces."
- Robinho
A surprising fact about Brazilian football is that few children ever play it - grass is difficult to maintain in a tropical country and unplanned urban development means cities have little space for full-sized pitches.
At local clubs, kids grow up playing 'futebol de salão', which is football played on a basketball court with a small, non-bouncy ball.
Robinho says that his agility comes from 'futebol de salão'. It's much faster than regular football, and with less space to move in children are forced to develop close-body ball skills like dribbling.
'Futebol de salão' also launched great players like Zico and Rivelino.
"I only ever played Futebol de Salão as a youngster - it's the best start for children."
- Juninho
"I think the best way to improve your skills is to play football on a smaller pitch. I didn't play 11-a-side football until I was 13.
In Brazil most kids play what we call futebol de salão, which is similar to five-a-side. It is played on a hard surface and the ball is a lot smaller and weighted with foam so it doesn't bounce.
This makes the ball harder to play with at first - but it's great practice for when you move to full-size football.
On a small pitch you need to have good control and move the ball around quickly. There isn't much space so you need to be skilful. Most of the kids in my neighbourhood played futebol de salao.
That is why Brazil always produces players with great skill. The amount of space in 11-a-side is not good for young kids. You spend too much time running around without the ball. In futebol de salão you are always involved.
It's great to play 11-a-side when you're older - but it's better if you play on a small pitch first. The pitches in Brazil can be poor quality - you need to have good control to play on them otherwise you will lose the ball. This is another reason Brazilian players have good technique.
Sometimes making things harder for yourself improves your game in the long-run. But remember that football isn't just about skill. it's also about having the right attitude. The most important skill you can learn is discipline."
"When I was young I played Fuebol de Salão, it was my teacher."
- Ronaldinho
Nike's recent Joga TV commercials featured a 10 year old Ronaldinho playing the game of Futebol de Salão in Brazil. The youngster can be seen destroying defences with his trademark dribbling skills and toothy grin.
Ronaldinho's deftness in tight spaces was developed during his years playing futebol de salão, the precursor of the modern, Fifa-endorsed futsal. The earlier game, invented in South America in the 1930s, uses a smaller, heavier, much less bouncy ball, and from the age of 11 Ronaldinho spent two hours a night mastering its arts, in addition to four hours of conventional training with Gremio.
"He's a great hybrid," observes Simon Clifford the head of ICFDS. "He has all the little manoeuvres and body movements typical of a player with his background in futebol de salão, where space is so limited and you have to be able to trick your way past two or three opponents. He also shoots with his toe-end, as he did for that goal against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in 2005, which is a trick used by futebol de salão players to prevent the goalkeeper getting time to set himself. But he can do all the other things as well - the shooting from long range, the passing over longer distances and so on."
"Garrincha - The triumph and tragedy of Braztil's forgotten hero" by Ruy Castro
In his award-winning biography, Ruy Castro tells of the difficulties that even the great Garrincha faced, playing Futebol de Salao in the later stages of his career.
"At the beginning of March 1973, Garrincha was in Toron playing Futebol de Salao with a local side called 'The Italians'. If he had any illusions about swapping the harder surface for the full-sized pitch they didn't last long. Futebol de Salao, a type of indoor football popular in Brazil, proved even more difficult than the real thing; the ball was smaller, heavier and always in play. Just when he though he would get a minute to catch his breath the ball was coming straight for him again."