Portuguese football icon Luis Figo, who’s the president of Premier Futsal, spoke to the media here on Sunday.
Excerpts:
On the vision for the futsal league: This is a first-of-its-kind platform in India that brings the native & international football, and futsal players together. The football legends in it add to public allure, and value in terms of play and experience. We have a long-term goal and hope people support us. India’s large population and passionate fan base for sports make it a big market for us. We are deliberating the next edition for January.
On bringing in the football legends: The most difficult part was to find players who were free, since most of them run on a tight schedule. These are people who have busy lives. Yet, they responded quick and positive. Some players had other commitments but the feedback to the concept and the response on participation was good in general.
On whether he intends to play in the league in future: The only problem is that I am the president and therein lies the conflict of interest (laughs).
On what separates futsal and football: In football, there’s more space and time of play which is not the case in futsal. Some budding footballers take to futsal since it helps improve skills and techniques. Both are different from each other in the way they are played. Some professional futsallers can’t really play well in football, and some footballers can’t really play well in futsal.
On adding more teams to the event: We hope to expand and do better. We are learning from this edition to improve upon the concept.
On whether he intends to set up a football academy in India: I’m planning to set up an academy here. I started an academy (co-founded by Winning League called the Winning League Figo Football Academy) two years ago in China. I’m looking to join hands with an academy here that shares my philosophy to develop and promote football.
