Toronto 2015 Pan American Games Will Include Futsal!

The bar has now been set as the Pan American Games in 2015 in Toronto will include futsal. This will be a monumental event that will catapult the sport into the mainstream and eventually will lead to its inclusion in the Olympics.

http://www.fifa.com/aboutfifa/footballdevelopment/technicalsupport/futsal/news/newsid=1535789/index.html

Conspicuous by its absence from the recently concluded Pan American Games in Guadalajara, Futsal will feature in the next edition of the Games set to take place in Toronto, Canada, between 10-26 July 2015.

The decision was announced in Mexico on 29 October by Allen Vansen, the Senior Vice-President of Operations for the Toronto 2015 Pan American Games Organizing Committee, who added that the definite programme for the event would not be made until after a meeting of the Pan American Sports Organisation within two months. That declaration aside, the official site of Toronto 2011 has gone as far as to publish the venues for the games, which will be the University of Toronto’s Goldring Centre for High Performance Sport, currently under construction.

Toronto 2015 will mark the second appearance of the sport following its debut at Rio de Janeiro 2007, where hosts Brazil took gold, Argentina silver and Paraguay bronze.

“Its inclusion in the Toronto Pan American Games is another clear indication of the sport’s growth worldwide, as well as the wishes of the event’s Organising Committee to have it among its disciplines,” said Jaime Yarza, Head of Futsal and Beach Soccer Competitions at FIFA. “After its resounding success in Rio de Janeiro, Futsal will once again grace this wonderful event. For this we must thank the organisers. We’re convinced the Futsal programme will be spectacular and will become one of the most popular events on display,” Yarza concluded.