Anyone who has sat on the terraces at Chungshan Stadium (中山足球場) recently and noted the small number of soccer fans cheering on the national team as it tried not to embarrass itself in its Asian qualifying matches for the 2006 World Cup, will be aware that the hearts and minds of the population are not geared toward the "beautiful game."
Even free admission was not enough incentive to draw the crowds. The 12,000-seat stadium looked bare on each occasion, with an average of less than 450 people in attendance per match. And the attendance figures at the Asian Women's Football Championship, which was held in Taipei in December 2001, proved equally low, with far less than the anticipated number of over 1,000 fans turning out to see each game.
PHOTO: GEORGE TSORNG, TAIPEI TIMES
Undeterred by sluggish turnouts for international soccer tournaments, the Chinese Taipei Football Association (CTFA, 中華台北足球協會) last year edged out some stiff competition from more soccer-friendly nations and won the rights to host this year's international football association FIFA Futsal World Championship.
"We first approached FIFA four years ago and we were given the go-ahead to begin preparing for the competition earlier this year," said Chang Chan-wei (張展維), the general secretary of CTFA. "It's very pleasing to have beaten more traditional footballing countries like Paraguay, Egypt, Iran and Thailand in the bidding process."
Set to begin on Nov. 21, the four-yearly competition is funded by FIFA. All participating teams' transportation costs to and from Taiwan, travel costs in Taiwan, accommodation and sponsorship deals are handled by FIFA. The only financial outlay incurred by the CTFA has been to ensure that the venues meet FIFA standards.
FIFA's footing the bill for an international soccer competition in Taiwan may seem an odd one -- and, some might say. a waste of time and money -- but soccer's governing body looks at it somewhat differently. Well aware of Taiwan's non-soccer tradition, the crux of FIFA's opting to hold the competition in Taipei is centered on the sport's development.
"The Futsal World Championship is one of our development programs, where we fully expect our expenses to be much higher than our income," said Andreas Werz, editor-in-chief of the soccer governing body's official monthly publication, FIFA Magazine.
"It's also our policy not to hold competitions in purely developed footballing countries. We looked at the infrastructure in Taiwan and decided that it was an opportunity to promote the young sport in a country that doesn't have a futsal
tradition."
Invented 70 years ago in Brazil, futsal is still not a truly global sport. Since the inception of the World Championship in 1989, however, the sport has seen an increase in popularity. Whereas only 46 teams battled it out in the qualifying rounds for the 2000 World Championships, double that number of national teams played qualifying matches for this year's tournament.
For the most part, futsal remains an amateur sport in much of the world, though professional leagues have been established in Spain, Brazil and Russia. Matches are also broadcast live on a regular basis, but the sport has yet to take a hold in strong 11-a-side soccer-oriented nations such as England, Germany and France.
Faster than the traditional game and with more emphasis on defense and attack rather than midfield play, futsal is played on an indoor hardwood court measuring approximately 40m by 20m. Teams
consist of four outfield players and one goalkeeper who is allowed to play anywhere on the court, but cannot throw the ball beyond the halfway line from within his own penalty area.
Matches last for 40 minutes, there are no clock stoppages for substitutions and one time-out call is allowed by each team per 20-minute half. There are, on average, six goals per game, although Brazil managed to surpass this number in 2000, when it racked up the world championship's highest score by hammering Guatemala 29-2.
Futsal is so unlike the 11-a-side version of the game that Spanish futsal coach, Javier Lozano was once quoted as saying that if his team played Real Madrid at futsal they would win 13-1.
Beating the Spanish hotshots on paper may be easy, but the current Futsal World
Champions will be up against some tough opposition in the coming weeks. Although expected to top Group A, which it shares with Taiwan, Egypt and Ukraine, pundits anticipate the action will heat up in later rounds, when the Spaniards could face stiff opposition from Iran, Argentina, Iberian rivals Portugal and futsal powerhouse, Brazil. Along with looking for fourth futsal title and to add its collection, competition favorites Brazil will be out to avenge last year's 4-3 loss to Spain in the final.
As for the host nation's chances of making it through the first round, well, even CTFA's general secretary Chang admits that the squad comprising
university students has a slim chance of getting into the later rounds.
"We're up against Spain, Egypt and the Ukraine, all of whose squads are well-tested and have been playing futsal for many years," he said. "Taiwan's team doesn't have much experience and the players are all young. I'd have to say that we will try our best, but it's a fast and demanding game and it won't be easy."
To ensure attendance at the up-coming competition doesn't drop to an embarrassingly low level, even if the host nation drops out in the opening group stage, the price of admission has been kept to a minimum. Tickets for most of the matches cost NT$350. Because of this, CTFA representatives are confident that people will turn out in their masses to cheer on the home team as well as to watch international squads.
"Sure, a lot of people are unaware of futsal but we have been busy promoting it in schools and colleges in the past months so it's not totally unknown," Chang said.
Ticket sales are looking good and I'm sure that come match days people will turnout to watch the games if not for the love football, but because they are curious to see teams like Brazil and Italy."
Regardless of Chang's optimism, attendance figures for the up-coming tournament will, almost certainly, lag far behind those of the 2000 Futsal World Championship in Guatemala, which saw and average of 5,600 spectators per match. The highest ever crowd turnout for a futsal world championship match was at the 1996 final in Spain, at which 15,500 people watched Brazil beat the host nation 6-4.
"I expect quite a lot of people to watch some of the games, as it is the first time the event has been held in [Taiwan]," said FIFA Magazine's editor in chief Werz. "I am concerned about the Linkou venue, though, as it seats 15,000 people and if teams have to play in front of 500 people, it will look quite bad."
FIFA Futsal World Championship 2004
Venues:
Taipei: National Taiwan University Gymnasium (台灣國立大學體育館)
Linkou: National College of Physical Education and Sport Gymnasium (國立體育學院體育館)
FISRT ROUND GROUP STAGE
Group A
Chinese Taipei (TPE)
Egypt (EGY)
Spain (ESP)
Ukraine (UKR)
Fixtures:
November 21
4pm: TPE vs. EGY (Taipei)
6pm: ESP vs. UKR (Taipei)
November 23
6pm: TPE vs. ESP (Taipei)
8pm: EGY vs. UKR (Taipei)
November 25
6pm: UKR vs. TPE (Taipei)
6pm: EGY vs. ESP (Linkou)
Group B
Australia (AUS)
Brazil (BRA)
Czech Republic (CZE)
Thailand (THA)
Fixtures:
November 22
6pm: AUS vs. BRA (Taipei)
8pm: CZE vs. THA (Taipei)
November 24
6pm: AUS vs. CZE (Taipei)
8pm: BRA vs. THA (Taipei)
November 26
8pm: THA vs. AUS (Taipei)
8pm: BRA vs. CZE (Linkou)
Group C
Italy (ITA)
Japan (JPN)
Paraguay (PAR)
USA (USA)
Fixtures:
November 21
6pm: ITA vs. USA (Linkou)
8pm: JPN vs. PAR (Linkou)
November 23
6pm: ITA vs. JAP (Linkou)
8pm: USA vs. PAR (Linkou)
November 25
8pm: PAR vs. ITA (Linkou)
8pm: USA vs. JAP (Taipei)
Group D
Argentina (ARG)
Cuba (CUB)
Iran (IRN)
Portugal (POR)
Fixtures:
November 22
6pm: IRN -POR (Linkou)
8pm: CUB - ARG (Linkou)
November 24
6pm: IRN - CUB (Linkou)
8pm: POR - ARG (Linkou)
November 26
6pm: ARG - IRN (Linkou)
6pm: POR - CUB (Taipei)
SECOND ROUND GROUP STAGE
Group E
Winner Group A (E1)
Runner-up Group B (E2)
Winner Group C (E3)
Runner-up Group D (E4)
Fixtures:
November 28
4pm: E1 vs. E2 (Linkou)
6pm: E3 vs. E4 (Linkou)
November 29
6pm: E1 vs. E3 (Linkou)
8pm: E2 vs. E4 (Linkou)
December 1
8pm: E1 vs. E4 (Linkou)
8pm: E2 vs. E3 (Taipei)
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