East of Scotland Soccer Development Association

ESSDA/SFA Winter Football Programme

Fixtures are available to download

Soccer City (PDF Format) or Soccer City (MS Excel Format)

World of Football (PDF Format) or World of Football (MS Excel Format)

or you can view on line at the Schedule Page

ESSDA, with help and support from the SFA, will once again run a Winter Football programme for the 2014 Winter Shutdown.

2006s will play at Riccarton (4 a side) or Soccer City Mayfield (4 a side)

2002s - 2005s will play at World of Football (5 a side)
Games will be 12 mins and all teams will get 4 games per week.

2002s - 2005s will play at Soccer City Mayfield (5 a side)
Games will be 12 mins and all teams will get 4 games per week.

Futsal  will run for 6 weeks starting on 12th January 2014 to 16th February 2014.

Last Year (although the format rules may change) at Dalkeith / World of Football -
Games will last 12 minutes including a 2 minute transition period. Coordinators will sound a claxon at the start and end of each game. Teams should be aware of where their next game will be to save time during transitions. Teams should start as soon as they are ready to play.

Please advise parents/spectators beforehand that they should step back and allow players to move freely between pitches.

•  World of Football is astro grass and players could wear trainers or boots with moulded studs.

•  Riccarton is astro grass and players should wear trainers.

•  Soccer City Mayfield is astro grass and players should wear trainers or boots with moulded studs.

This is our first visit to Soccer City and we are grateful to them for their help / support in running this venue.

Only players and coaches can enter the playing areas. There is limited viewing for parents at Riccarton and Soccer City

· Coaches and spectators should follow the attached codes of conduct.

· Please find attached the updated rules.

Futsal is a great way for children to develop modern football skills and improve their technique through the winter months. The game helps develop fast, quick thinking , skilful players. The game is played indoors to touchlines not walls, making players use drag backs and other skills to utilise space. With 4v4 outfield it is the optimum number of players to enhance skill and technique.

Why Use Futsal in the Winter to Develop Creative Players?

Over the years Scottish football has been synonymous with exciting and creative players who get fans on the edge of their seats. Players developed naturally in a street environment which has now unfortunately been lost and as a result young players now spend less time practicing individual skills which help creative ability.

The game of futsal has been played in countries such as Brazil for years where they have used this game format to help develop technically competent and creative players. This workshop is designed to help encourage coaches to utilise futsal in the winter months to develop creative aspects of players and create more technically able performers.
Within the game at whatever age and ability level, the 1v1 situation is central to a player's development. To enable players to master these 1v1 situations from an attacking perspective, particular focus should be placed on individual technique training, because technical skill forms
the foundation for tactical play.

For a summary of the Rules of Futsal see the Rules page,
or download and print Rules of Futsal (PDF - 149KB) or (DOC - 436KB)

This Futsal programme is put on with the help of the SFA who have generously subsided this event in previous years.