The Futsal Club Championship, also referred as
Hero
A hero (feminine: heroine) is a real person or a main fictional character who, in the face of danger, combats adversity through feats of ingenuity, courage, or strength. Like other formerly gender-specific terms (like ''actor''), ''her ...
Futsal Club Championship for sponsorship ties, is the
highest level futsal Futsal is a football-based game played on a hard court smaller than a football pitch, and mainly indoors. It has similarities to five-a-side football and indoor football.
Futsal is played between two teams of five players each, one of whom is ...
club competition in
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
, organised by the
All India Football Federation (AIFF).
The inaugural edition kicked off on 5th November 2021 in
New Delhi
New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament Ho ...
with 16 teams. It acts as qualifier for the
AFC Futsal Club Championship, the highest level club futsal competition in
Asia
Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...
.
History
On 10 December 2019, the AIFF executive committee decided that futsal club competition will be part of their calendar from 2020 season onwards.
AIFF invited clubs playing
Indian Super League
The Indian Super League (ISL) is an Indian professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the Indian football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. Organised by the All India Football Federat ...
,
I-League
The I-League (known as Hero I-League for sponsorship ties with Hero MotoCorp) is the second-tier men's professional football competition of the Indian football league system. It is currently contested by 12 clubs across the country with the w ...
and
state level futsal champions to participate in the inaugural season.
The inaugural championship was originally planned to be held in July – August, but due to
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
, it was postponed until 2021.
Competition format
2021
The Futsal Club Championship features a total of 16 teams, which have been divided into four groups, played in a
round-robin format. The highest-placed team from each group makes it to the semi-final stage, played in a knockout format. The winners of the tournament become futsal champions of India.
2022-23
The Futsal Club Championship 2022-23 season will have a total of 13 teams, teams will be divided into two groups of seven and six teams respectively, where they will play in the round robin format, before proceeding to the knockout rounds. The winner of the tournament will qualify to represent India in
AFC Futsal Club Championship at Asian level.
2021 teams
Summaries
Statistics and records
Winners by club
Media coverage
On 3rd November 2021, the All India Football Federation announced that
Eurosport India will broadcast the
inaugural edition of the Hero Futsal Club Championship.
See also
*
Football in India
Football in India has historically been among the top 3 most popular sport in terms of players participation and TV viewership, together with long time number one cricket and re-emerging kabaddi. India's current top domestic football league is ...
*
Sport in India
Sport is a significant part of life in India. The country has a very long sports history, with sports being a part of tradition, culture, finance and entertainment. People in India closely follow various sports and enthusiastically participate ...
*
History of Indian football
The history of football in India is a long and detailed one, as it was the national sport at one time. The impetus for this was to unify the Indian Army. There is evidence for refereed between a team of football games being played in the Indian ...
*
Indian football league system
The Indian football league system is the league structure of football club competitions in India. The highest level of men's club football competition in India is the Indian Super League. Indian Women's League, founded in 2016, is the highest l ...
*
AFC Futsal Asian Cup
The AFC Futsal Asian Cup, previously the AFC Futsal Championship, is the premier international futsal competition for the Asian Football Confederation national teams. It was first held in 1999 and was played annually until 2008; since then it has ...
*
FIFA Futsal World Cup
The FIFA Futsal World Cup is an international futsal competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the member associations of FIFA, the sport's global governing body. Since the first edition that took place in 1989 in the Netherland ...
*
Asian Premier Futsal Championship
The Premier Futsal League was an Indian franchise-based futsal league conceptualised by Indian entrepreneurs under the entity of Premier Futsal Management Pvt. Ltd. It was founded by Abhinandan Balasubramanian, Dinesh Raj and Nithyashree Su ...
*
Futsal Association of India
Futsal Association of India (FAI) is the governing body of state-level futsal league and Asian Premier Futsal Championship in India.
FAI has been developing futsal through various District, State and National Championships. FAI organised its 1 ...
*
Minifootball
Minifootball is a ''small-sided'' variation of football. It is mainly played in 5-a-side format, with additional types of 6-a-side, 7-a-side, 8-a-side, 9-a-side and indoor soccer, all played on astro turf, or futsal played indoors on a hard cou ...
*
Five-a-side football
Five-a-side football is a version of minifootball, in which each team fields five players (four outfield players and a goalkeeper). Other differences from football include a smaller pitch, smaller goals, and a reduced game duration. Matches are ...
*
Indoor soccer
References
External links
AIFF futsal
{{Football in India
Futsal competitions in Asia
Futsal in India
2020 establishments in Asia
Recurring sporting events established in 2020
Futsal leagues in Asia
Asia
Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...