Futsal is a fast-paced and exciting variation of indoor soccer played between two teams of five players each, one of whom is the goalkeeper. Unlimited substitutions are permitted. Unlike some other forms of indoor soccer, the game is played on a hard court surface delimited by lines on the court like outdoor soccer; there are no walls or boards in use. Futsal is also played with a smaller ball with less bounce than a regular football due to the surface of the field. The surface, ball and rules create an emphasis on improvisation, creativity and technique as well as ball control and passing in small spaces. The name Futsal is South American in origin and comes from a combination of Spanish fútbol sala or fútbol de salón and from Portuguese Futebol de Salão, which can be translated as “indoor football”.
Futsal competition at the Arctic Winter Games is held in three age categories with Intermediate Female (born 2000 or later), both Junior Male & Female (born 2002 or later) and both Juvenile Male & Female (born 2004 or later) with each team having nine athletes and one coach.
A contingent team consists of up to forty-five athletes and five coaches from each participating contingent, meaning that Futsal is the largest competition in the Arctic Winter Games with Alaska, Yukon, Alberta North, Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Greenland, Sapmi and Yamal/Russia regularly sending teams. In the Nuuk 2016 Arctic Winter Games there were a total of 288 participants, almost 100 participants more than Ice Hockey, the 2nd largest sport in the games.
