Marquette Park is home to the first public futsal court in St. Louis. Through a partnership between St. Louis CITY SC, Dutchtown Main Streets and Allies of Marquette Park, Dutchtown South Community Corporation, MADE STL, Raineri Construction, McConnell and Associates, and other donors, we’ve brought this exciting young sport to the Dutchtown neighborhood for everyone! Read all about the project.
What Is Futsal?
Futsal is similar to soccer on a scaled-down field. The sport originated in Uruguay, gained popularity across South America, and is rapidly expanding throughout the world. Often played indoors as well, the game is played on a smaller pitch with a hard surface and uses a smaller, firmer ball with less bounce. Futsal matches are played with five players to a team, and the games consist of two 20 minute halves.
Due to the smaller confines of the field, futsal emphasizes creative strategies, technique, ball control and quick reflexes. Many world famous soccer stars, such as Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, got their start on the futsal field. Fast paced and high scoring, futsal provides opportunities to develop valuable technical skills to new players before moving to the big pitch, as well as honing the craft for experienced soccer players.
How Do We Play Futsal?
Simple! Just grab a ball, grab some friends, drop the ball, and go! The rules are very similar to soccer.
If you’re looking for official rules, here’s the basics:
- Five players to a team including the goalkeeper
- Only the goalkeeper can use their hands
- Use a smaller, harder size 4 ball (or size 3 for kids under 13)
- Two periods of 20 minutes each
- No offsides
- Kick-ins instead of throw-ins when the ball goes out of play
Complete Futsal Rules
For more information and the final authority on the rules, see the complete FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game.
Marquette Park Futsal in the News
Kickoff with St. Louis CITY SC
On Saturday, September 25th, Dutchtown Main Streets was joined by Major League Soccer team St. Louis CITY SC and a number of other community partners to celebrate the grand opening of the new futsal court at Marquette Park. The soccer team gave away soccer balls to neighborhood kids, and Umoja Soccer presented quick exhibition games on the new pitch.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch and other news outlets were on hand for the event that attracted dozens of Dutchtown neighbors and soccer enthusiasts from all over the St. Louis region. Read the Post‘s article here. You can view more photos from the kickoff on the DutchtownSTL Flickr page.
Stay Tuned for More Futsal at Marquette!
Bookmark this page (dutchtownstl.org/futsal) for all the latest news and developments at the Marquette Park futsal court. We hope to announce regular pickup games and new programs soon! There is also a Marquette Park Futsal Group on Facebook where you can stay up to date.
