A total of 92 teams will battle it out for the national titles when the New Zealand Secondary Schools Futsal Championships take place in Wellington this week. 

There has been huge demand from all over New Zealand for the event, which will be staged from 25 to 29 March at the ASB Sports Centre in the capital. 

There are four categories – Junior Girls, Senior Girls, Junior Boys and Senior Boys – in what is an important event for the next generation of futsal talent. 

For draws, results and livestream of the New Zealand Secondary Schools Futsal Championship please click here

The girls will take centre stage on Monday and Tuesday before the attention turn to the boys’ competitions from Wednesday through to Friday.

New Zealand Football Futsal Development Manager Josh Margetts says the event is an important date on the futsal calendar.

“This event shows the strength of the sport of futsal in the secondary school space as we continue the impressive growth of recent years,” he says. 

There have been some really encouraging signs in participation and growth in futsal. The local league participation has increased to over 28,000 registered players (15 percent growth from 2017) and there are over 20,000 participants in federation-led school and community engagement programmes.

“The inaugural Women’s Futsal SuperLeague which we staged in February was a huge success and we are looking forward to building on that momentum at the Secondary Schools tournament. This is a great opportunity for people to get to know the sport better and see the standard of play in New Zealand," Margetts says. 

The week is also being used as an opportunity to grow futsal’s ever-expanding refereeing base.

New Zealand Football has recognised that the development of futsal coaches and referees is vital to the holistic support of the rapidly growing base of players around the country.  In 2018, New Zealand Football had 223 new futsal coaches and 185 new futsal referees to support the growth of the sport.

“Quality and development is always at the forefront of our planning and we have been encouraged to see good numbers taking up refereeing and coaching in futsal. It is critical for the future of the sport.”

The champions from 2018 in the New Zealand Secondary Schools Futsal Championship were Scots College (Junior Boys), Wellington College (Senior Boys), Wellington East Girls College (Junior Girls) and Palmerston North Girls High (Senior Girls).

All will be out to defend their hard-earned titles with the exception of Palmerston North Girls High, who have not entered a team this year. 

Article added: Monday 25 March 2019