The Shape of a Match

A futsal side has at most five players on the court and one of the five must be the goalkeeper.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 3.1 · recall

A match may not start or resume once a team has fewer than three players on the court.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 3.1 · applied

The captain has a degree of responsibility for the team's behaviour but no special status or privileges under the Laws.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 3.12 · applied

One of a team's players must be the goalkeeper; the other roles are tactical choices, not requirements.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 3.1 · applied

Futsal is played on a flat, hard court, typically indoors; grass and artificial turf are not used.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 1.1 · recall

A maximum of nine substitutes may be used in a match played in an official competition under FIFA, a confederation or a national association.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 3.2 · applied

An unlimited number of substitutions may be made during a futsal match, and they are made on the fly.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 3.2 · applied

Each team is made up of a maximum of five players on the court, one of them the goalkeeper.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 3.1 · recall

A match needs at least three players a side to begin; a team may start with fewer than five and add named players as they arrive.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 3.1 · applied

The five-a-side side and the short match are usually traced to basketball; water polo influenced the goalkeeper's role and handball the pitch and goal sizes.

Source: General futsal history · recall

A futsal match lasts two equal periods of twenty minutes of playing time.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 7.1 · recall

Futsal is timed with a stopped clock: the timekeeper halts it whenever the ball is out of play, so twenty minutes of actual play is longer in real time.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 7.1 · applied

The timekeeper times the match and signals the end of a period with an acoustic signal distinct from the referees' whistle.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 7.2 · applied

If there is no timekeeper, the referees confirm that the playing time has elapsed and signal the end of the period themselves.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 7.2 · applied

Players are entitled to a half-time interval not exceeding fifteen minutes, with its exact length set by the competition rules.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 7.4 · applied

When a penalty kick or a sixth-foul free kick is awarded as a period ends, the period is considered over only once that kick has been completed.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 7.2 · applied

Playing time is not extended in any case other than to allow a penalty or sixth-foul kick already awarded to be completed.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 7.2 · applied

Every stoppage pauses the clock, so a twenty-minute period of playing time takes well over twenty minutes on the wall.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 7.1 · recall

The twenty-minute period may be reduced only if the competition rules permit it; otherwise it is fixed.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 7.1 · applied

The period ends when the timekeeper's acoustic signal sounds, whether or not the referees also whistle.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 7.2 · applied

The team scoring the greater number of goals during the match is the winner.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 10.2 · recall

If both teams score the same number of goals, or none, the match is drawn; a tie-break is used only when the competition needs a winner.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 10.2 · applied

The only permitted procedures are the away-goals rule, two equal periods of extra time, and kicks from the penalty mark, and they may be combined.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 10.2 · recall

Extra time is two equal periods not exceeding five minutes each, with the exact length set by the competition rules.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 10.2 · applied

Kicks from the penalty mark are taken after the match has ended and are not part of the match.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 10.3 · recall

A player who has been sent off during the match is not permitted to take part in kicks from the penalty mark.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 10.3 · applied

Warnings and cautions issued during the match are not carried forward into kicks from the penalty mark.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 10.3 · recall

If one team has more players than the other when the match ends, it reduces its number to equal its opponents before kicks from the penalty mark begin.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 10.3 · applied

An abandoned match is replayed unless the competition rules or organisers determine otherwise.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 7.5 · applied

Law 11 for futsal contains only the statement that there is no offside, so a goal is never disallowed because of where an attacker was standing.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 11 · applied

The team that wins the toss decides whether to take the kick-off in the first or second period; the home team, unless rules say otherwise, chooses which goal to attack first.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 8.1 · recall

At half-time each team changes benches so that its bench is on the side of the court it is now defending.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 8.1 · applied

For the second period the teams change ends and attack the opposite goals.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 8.1 · recall

After a goal, the kick-off is taken by the other team, that is, the team that conceded.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 8.1 · applied

All players except the one taking the kick-off must be in their own half of the court.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 8.1 · applied

The opponents of the team taking the kick-off must be at least three metres from the ball until it is in play.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 8.1 · recall

A goal may be scored directly against the opponents from the kick-off.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 8.1 · applied

If the ball goes directly into the kicker's own goal from the kick-off, a corner kick is awarded to the opponents.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 8.1 · applied

The ball is in play at a kick-off when it is kicked and clearly moves; it must be stationary on the centre mark beforehand.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 8.1 · applied

A kick-off starts both periods, both periods of extra time, and restarts play after a goal; the dropped ball is used only when no other restart applies.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Law 8.1 · recall

Juan Carlos Ceriani, a physical education teacher, devised an indoor five-a-side game in 1930.

Source: FIFA Futsal Coaching Manual (2025), Ch. 2 (History of futsal) · recall

The game was created at the YMCA in Montevideo, Uruguay.

Source: FIFA Futsal Coaching Manual (2025), Ch. 2 (History of futsal) · recall

"Futsal" comes from the Spanish "fútbol sala" and Portuguese "futebol de salão", meaning indoor or hall football.

Source: General futsal history · recall

Ceriani adapted football to be played indoors on hard courts, borrowing court and goal sizes from other indoor sports.

Source: General futsal history · recall

FIFA took up the indoor game and staged its first Futsal World Championship in 1989.

Source: General futsal history · recall

FIFUSA, the international federation for "fútbol de salón", was formed in 1971 and ran the game before FIFA adopted it.

Source: General futsal history · recall

FIFA governs futsal, while the AMF continues the FIFUSA tradition, so the wider indoor game has two international bodies.

Source: General futsal history · recall

Futsal spread quickly through South America and Brazil became its early competitive stronghold.

Source: General futsal history · recall

The small court, heavy ball contact and tight space force frequent touches and fast choices, which is why many federations use futsal in player development.

Source: FIFA Futsal Coaching Manual (2025), Ch. 2 (History of futsal) · recall

FIFA publishes and approves the Futsal Laws of the Game; the 2025/26 edition took effect on 5 September 2025.

Source: FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game 2025/26, Notes on the Futsal Laws of the Game · recall