The Emerald Futsal League was a

futsal Futsal is a football-based game played on a hardcourt, hard court smaller than a football pitch, and mainly indoors. It has similarities to five-a-side football and Indoor soccer, indoor football. Futsal is played between two teams of five players ...

league featuring teams based in the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. A ...

. It was initially planned that the league would develop into a full national league. However the vast majority of its member clubs are based in the

Greater Dublin Area The Greater Dublin Area (GDA; Irish: ''Mórcheantar Bhaile Átha Cliath''), or simply Greater Dublin, is an informal term that is taken to include the city of Dublin and its hinterland, with varying definitions as to its extent. As of 2022, its e ...

. It is effectively a provincial league and, as a result, is also referred to as the Emerald Futsal League (Leinster). The league was introduced in

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

and the inaugural winners were Brasilforall. Teams from the league cannot automatically qualify for the

UEFA Futsal Cup The UEFA Futsal Champions League is an annual futsal competition for European club teams organized by UEFA. It was founded as the UEFA Futsal Cup in 2001 and replaced the Futsal European Clubs Championship, an unofficial competition held since 1984 ...

but can qualify by winning the

FAI Futsal Cup The FAI Futsal Cup is a cup competition organized by the Football Association of Ireland for futsal teams based in the Republic of Ireland. The winners qualify to represent the Republic of Ireland in the UEFA Futsal Cup. The competition was intro ...

. Since the league disbanded, the AUL Futsal Premier League became the top tier of Irish futsal.

History

The Emerald Futsal League was founded in

as a joint partnership project involving four organisations – the Futsal Association of Ireland, Futsal Ireland, Sport Against Racism Ireland and

Dublin City Council Dublin City Council ( ga, Comhairle Cathrach Bhaile Átha Cliath) is the authority responsible for local government in the city of Dublin in Ireland. As a city council, it is governed by the Local Government Act 2001. Until 2001, the council wa ...

. The league kicked off on 2 November 2008 with three games played at the Ballyfermot Leisure Centre. The participants included Brasilforall, Polish Eagles, Futsamba, Perestroika, English in Dublin and Dublin Futsal. The inaugural champions were Brasilforall who were subsequently taken over by

St Patrick's Athletic St Patrick's Athletic Football Club ( ga, Cumann Peile Lúthchleas Phádraig Naofa) is a professional Irish association football club based in Inchicore, Dublin, that plays in the Irish Premier Division. Founded in May 1929, they played origin ...

. The 2009 Emerald Futsal League kicked off on 25 June 2009 with four games played at the BRL Umbro Arena,

Ballymun Ballymun () is an outer suburb of Dublin, Ireland, at the northern edge of the Northside, the green-field development of which began in the 1960s to accommodate a housing crisis in inner city areas of Dublin. While the newly built housing was ...

. Dublin Santos played

Shamrock Rovers Shamrock Rovers Football Club ( ga, Cumann Peile Ruagairí na Seamróige) is an Irish association football club based in Tallaght, South Dublin. The club's senior team competes in the League of Ireland Premier Division and it is the most su ...

in the first game. Other members this season included

Sporting Fingal Sporting Fingal Football Club ( ga, Cumann Peile Fine Gall Spórtúil) was an Irish association football club based in Fingal. Between 2008 and 2010, the club played three seasons in the League of Ireland. During their first two seasons they pl ...

, St Patrick's Athletic, Bray/St Joseph's, Alpha United, ISL Futsal and North County Dublin. In October 2009 Shamrock Rovers won the second Emerald Futsal League title after a 7–4 win in the final against Bray/St Joseph's. Since 2010 Emerald Futsal League teams have competed in the

. Emerald Futsal League teams can also qualify to compete in the

after winning the FAI Futsal Cup. Shamrock Rovers and St Patrick's Athletic qualified for the 2007–08 and 2008–09 tournaments before the Emerald Futsal League started. Playing under various names including, Sporting Fingal EID, EID Futsal and Eden College,

Eden Futsal Club Eden Futsal Club is an Irish futsal club based in Blanchardstown, Fingal. The club played under various names including English in Dublin, Sporting Fingal EID, EID Futsal and Eden College. In 2008 they were founder members of the Emerald Futsal ...

qualified for the UEFA Futsal Cup on five consecutive occasions between 2010–11 and 2014–15. Blue Magic Futsal qualified for the 2015–16 and 2016–17 tournaments.

Format

The league consists of a regular league season plus a series of play-off matches to decide the eventual champions.

Teams

2014–15 season

Previous seasons

Winners

References

{{Football in Ireland

External links

Leinster Emerald Futsal League

Emerald Futsal League on Facebook

Emerald Futsal League on Twitter

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

Futsal competitions in the Republic of Ireland Association football leagues in the Republic of Ireland Sports leagues established in 2008 2008 establishments in Ireland