Albany/El Cerrito/Oakland Alameda
Futsal League

Please click here for completing FUTSAL WINTER 2023 Registration Procedures.

To Pay League Fees:

Click Here to Register for Winter 2023 Season

Please click here for completing FUTSAL WINTER 2023 Registration Procedures.

To Pay Player Fees:

Click Here to Register for Winter 2023 Season

The 12th season of the Albany/El Cerrito Futsal League WINTER Season will start on January 8th and ends on March 1st. The games will be held at various facilities, but primarily at El Cerrito H.S. Gym .

Contact League Administrator

WINTER FUTSAL SEASON REGISTRATION

Albany/El Cerrito Futsal League
Oakland/Alameda Futsal League

Servicing

    Winter 2023

    WINTER SEASON Register by December 4th!!!!

    The twelves season of the Albany/El Cerrito Futsal League WINTER Season will start on January 8th and ends on March 1st. The games will be held at various facilities, but primarily at El Cerrito H.S. Gym for teams from Berkeley, Albany, El Cerrito, and adjacent areas. The program is offered to U-8, U-9, U-10, U-11, U-12, U-13, U-14, U-16, and U-19 (boy’s and girl’s) teams.

    We are planning a fantastic season and making sure we provide our Futsal families with the latest Covid guidelines to keep everyone safe throughout the season

    There are two categories: Competitive and Recreational. The cost will be $700/team. Players who register individually have to write a check for $75/player, payable to Albany/El Cerrito Futsal, and mail it to 6114 La Salle Avenue #502, Oakland, CA. 94611. Also, all players and coaches MUST register online and pay the U.S. Futsal registration before being able to play in the league ($10/youth-player $20/Adult-player). The cost includes league registration fees, medical insurance, online registration, and affiliation with California-North Futsal Association. Since the league is affiliated with Cal-North Futsal Association, State and League personnel will conduct a coaching and referee clinic for all participating teams. The top teams in the U-8, U-9, U-10, U-11, U-12, U-13, U-14, U-16, and U-19 categories will also be eligible to take part in the U.S. Futsal Northwest Regional Championships on March 4, 5 & 6, 2022 at the San Jose Convention Center. The winners will be able to participate in the U.S. Futsal National Championship on July 14 – 17, 2022 at the Santa Clara Convention Center. This season, as an added benefit, select teams will participate in inter-league matches with teams from Marin and Diablo Futsal Leagues. This should prove to be very exciting, as our top teams will be matched against the best that those two leagues have to offer.

    If you are interested in becoming part of the future by joining the Oakland/Alameda, Albany / El Cerrito Futsal League, please call 510-326-2539, or e-mail info@elcerritofutsal.com. The deadline for registering is December 4th for the Winter Season.

    To pay online for the team ($700), a coach ($20), or an individual player ($75) please go to the following link:

    To register as a coach click on the following link: https://system.gotsport.com/programs/11995I300?reg_role=coach

    To register a player click on the following link: https://system.gotsport.com/programs/8504P5921?reg_role=player

    To register your team just go to the following link; https://system.gotsport.com/event_regs/689750190c

    For more information please call Martin Martinez or Alex Para at 510-326-2539

    History of Futsal

    The origin of Futsal (Five-a-Side Soccer) can be traced back to Montevideo, Uruguay, in 1930 when Juan Carlos Ceriani devised a five-a-side version of soccer for youth competion in YMCAs.  The game is played on basketball-sized courts, both indoors and out without the use of sidewalls.

    The game is frequently referred to as Five-A-Side or Mini-soccer.  Once Ceriani got the ball rolling, Futsal gained rapid popularity throughout South America, particularly in Brazil.  The skill developed in this game is visible in the world-famous style the Brazilians display outdoors on the full-sized field.  Pele, Zico, Socrates, Bebeto and other Brazilian superstars developed their skill playing Futsal.  While Brazil continues to be the Futsal hub of the world, the game is now played, under the auspices of FIFA, all over the world, from Europe to North and Central America and the Caribbean, South America, Africa, and Asia and Oceania.

    The first international competition took place in 1965, when Paraguay won the first South American Cup.  Six more South American Cups were held through 1979, with Brazil winning all of them.  Brazil continued its dominance with a victory in the first Pan American Cup in 1980 and won it again the next time it was played in 1984.  A U.S. team took part in the 1984 cup, but finished out of the running.

    U.S. Futsal was founded in 1981 and incorporated in January, 1983.  Osvaldo Garcia was it’s first president.  The game is referred to as Minisoccer,  five-a-side soccer, Futbol Sala or Futebol de Salao, but it is also widly refereed by it trademark name, Futsal.  The current U.S. Futsal president is Alex J.C. Para.

    The first Futsal World Championship conducted under the auspices of FIFUSA (before its members integrated into FIFA in 1989) was held in Sao Paulo, Brazil, in 1982, with Brazil finishing in first place.  The Brazilians repeated as champions at the second World Championship in 1985 in Spain, but lost in the third World Championship in 1988 in Australia to Paraguay.  FIFA took over direct sponsorship of the event in 1989 in Holland and 1992 in Hong Kong. Brazil won both times.  The U.S. Futsal (Indoor Team), finished third in 1989 and second in 1992 at the FIFA Five-a-Side World Championship.  The highest showing by any team from the United States in a FIFA tournament until the U.S. Womens team won the gold medal in China for outdoor soccer.  The Third FIFA World Championship was held November 24 through December 11, 1996, in Spain and for the first time FIFA names it the FIFA Futsal World Championship.  The Fourth FIFA Futsal World Championship was held in Guatemala between November 18 to December 4th, 2000.  The fifth Futsal World Championship was held in Taipei in December 2004.

    The first international Futsal match played by the U.S. Futsal National Team was in May 1984 in Nanaimo, Canada, and the United States won 6-5.  The first international Futsal match in the United States was held in December, 1985, at Sonoma State University in Rohnert Park, California.  The U.S. select team, defeated Australia, 9-5.

    U.S. Futsal has conducted a National Championship each year since 1985.  Futsal is establishing itself at the youth level in the U.S.  The Boys and Girls Clubs of America took a strong interest after the Columbia Park Club in San Francisco asked U.S. Futsal to give a demonstration.  The national organization adopted the sport, and it is now played at about 1,100 Boys and Girls Clubs throughout the U.S.  The American Youth Soccer Organization (AYSO) also plays the sport in a close working relationship with U.S. Futsal since 1988.

    The U.S. Youth Soccer Association (USYSA) and U.S. Futsal signed an agreement in August of 1995 and in 1999, to promote futsal in all their National State Association as their game of choice for indoor soccer under the auspices of U.S. Futsal.

    The Term FUTSAL

    The term FUTSAL is now the international term used for the game, it was first created by Alexander Para, for then the U.S. Minisoccer Federation.  Mr. Para knowing that having the term “soccer ” in its name made it hard to obtain gym from school since most schools thought that a soccer ball in a gym would damage their facilities. He  looked for a word like “NIKE” or KODAK, that would describe the sport and be able to be used in all languages of the world.  While in Spain in early 1985 he noticed that the Spanish like the Brazilians called the sport with similar names. The Spanish or Portuguese word for “soccer”– FUTbol or FUTebol, and the French or Spanish word for “indoor” — SALon or SALa.  From this Mr. Para decided to merge the two world and came up with the world FUTSAL. The new word was adopted by U.S. Futsal in 1987 since it includes the initials “fUtSAl” (USA), and U.S. Futsal changed its corporate name within the state of California, and had the name trademarked in Patent and Trademark Office in the United States in 1989 (PTO Serial # 73832190, Registration # 1645572).  In 1989 at the meeting of integration between FIFA and FIFUFA (the old governing body of salon futbol),  Mr. Para proposed that the new name that FIFA had proposed for the sport in the second “FIFA Five-a-Side World Championship” to be held in Hong Kong in 1992 be changed to FUTSAL. It was Mr. Para view that the new term “Five-a-Side” would change depending in which language you were speaking and that a new game should have a name that would not change.  Dr. Havelange, then President of FIFA, accepted the idea and had the term incorporated into Article 27, that states.  “The committee for soccer that is played in reduced areas called Salon Soccer or Five-a-Side, shall from now on be called FUTSAL”