La Empieza de La Liga Femenina

According to @Futsal.com, the origins of futsal can be traced back to 1930’s Uruguay, where, amid the euphoria generated by the country's victory at the inaugural FIFA World Cup on its home soil, there was a soccer ball being kicked on every street corner in the capital of Montevideo.

Juan Carlos Ceriani, an Argentinean physical education instructor living there at the time observed many youngsters playing soccer on basketball courts due to the shortage of “football pitches” in the city. It was then and there that the idea for a five-a-side variation came about.

Borrowing from the rules of water polo, handball and basketball, Ceriani drew up the original rules of the game, which were quickly adopted across South America. In 1965 the Confederación Sudamericana de Fútbol de Salon (South American Futsal Confederation) was formed, consisting of Uruguay, Paraguay, Peru, Argentina and Brazil, and futsal continued to spread throughout the region.

It wasn’t long after Kay and I arrived that we realized futsal was beginning to make its mark in our small colonial town of Granada as well. In the historic Parque Central, kids could be found playing throughout the afternoon and evening, maneuvering around monuments and potholes on their way down the court…

We stumbled upon after school leagues where boys (and a handful of girls) put together teams to compete in the cement courtyard. They play in close quarters with mobs of classmates swarming the sidelines heckling and giving much-needed coaching advice. Music blasts over the school’s intercom system…


When we began to plan our Liga Femenina de Fútbol Sin Fronteras, we knew futsal was the answer. Not only are the girls passionate about playing the game, but there are far more concrete surfaces throughout the city than there are hormiga-free fields.

So on Saturday, October 24^th the SWB ninas paraded to the courts, and as an organization, we welcome over 120 girls to help us celebrate the inauguration of our very own Futsal League for Girls.

Dalila López, La Directora del Fútbol Femenino de La Federación Nicaragüense de Fútbol traveled from Nicaragua’s capital of Managua to serve as our guest of honor. We simultaneously celebrated the opening of our league and the 2009 United Nation’s Global Peace Games for Children and Youth. Dalila read the UN Manifesto and highlighted the significance of the day’s games…

We would play to recognize and demonstrate the value of sport to:

• Unite, motivate, inspire and educate

• Encourage peaceful solutions and cultural understanding

• Teach essential values such as cooperation and respect

• Promote life-long health and social skills

• Improve health and wellbeing

• Strengthen links between children and adults

• Contribute to the development of communities

Thanks to the generous donations from high schools, clubs, and university teams across the country, Soccer Without Borders is able to lend uniforms sets to all participating teams so that they can play in style.

Please check back in for League updates and other Special Events.

Until next time, Keep Playing for Change (and Peace).