Canada gets its 1st ever FIFA Futsal Coaching Course!

The first ever FIFA Futsal Coaching Course on Canadian soil is now finally confirmed!

The course is the first of its kind in the country and will be taking place in Laval, Quebec, and is expected to take place sometime in October. The course was officially requested by the Canadian Soccer Association after both the Ontario Soccer Association and Quebec Soccer Federation showed significant interest in hosting it. Both provincial associations will also share the costs of the course and as such will each have a minimum of 10 of its members participate. The total number of participants will total between 25-30.

The exact date of the course is still yet to be determined but it will be a fully intensive 5 day course. The course instructor is also yet to be determined, but it is understood that the course will be in both English and French, which suggests the bi-lingual instructor may perhaps be coming from Switzerland or France.

According to the OSA – “the purpose of the course is to train future instructors (Learning Facilitators) of Futsal in Canada.” Successful partcipants will then go on to teach futsal courses within their respective provinces, which will without a doubt result in expediting the game’s popularity within their region, and will naturally vastly increase participation and education. Those are the most important elements Canadian futsal needs to work on in order to become succesful from coast to coast.

Although it has not been set in stone, the criteria required to take part in this groundbreaking course will include the Learning Facilitator license for the Canadian Soccer Association’s current NCCP Program and a National ‘B’ License, or equivalent.

As progressive as the course is certainly going to be for the development of Canadian futsal, those requested licenses are soccer qualifications, which is unfortunately likely to leave out the majority of top futsal minds from across the country. It will be very interesting to see how futsal specific coaches, players, and league operators across Canada will feel about that, as many of them are without licenses from the 11v11 game.

Regardless of what certifications one may have, anybody interested in taking the course should inquire about it. Any Ontarians interested in taking this course can, and should, contact Chantal Poulin, the OSA Futsal Coordinator, via email CPoulin@soccer.on.ca. Anybody from outside of Ontario should contact their provincial soccer association for more specifics as to participation. As always, if you are having trouble finding the right person to speak with, please feel free to email us at info@futsalcanada and we will assist in correctly connecting you.