Sport Futsal Affiliation 58 countries Location Paraguay | Abbreviation AMF Headquarters Asunción | |
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Founded December 1, 2002 as AMF in Asunción | ||
The Asociación Mundial de Futsal (AMF) (English: "World Futsal Association) is the governing body of futsal. It was founded on July 25, 1971 as the Federación Internacional de Fútbol de Salón (FIFUSA) (English: International Futsal Federation) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. On December 1, 2002, the organization changed its name to Asociación Mundial de Futsal.
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History
See also Futsal HistoryFutsal started in Montevideo, Uruguay in 1930 when Juan Carlos Ceriani created a version of indoor football for recreation in YMCAs. In 1965, the Confederacion Sudamericana de Futbol de Salon (South American Futsal Confederation) was formed, consisting of Uruguay, Paraguay, Peru, Argentina and Brazil.
The sport began to spread across South America, and its popularity ensured that a governing body was formed under the name of FIFUSA (Federación Internacional de Fútbol de Salón) in 1971, comprising Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, Peru, Portugal and Uruguay, along with the World Championships. The first FIFUSA World Championships were held in São Paulo, with hosts Brazil crowned champions ahead of Paraguay and Uruguay. Even more countries participated in the second World Championships held in Madrid in 1985.
Due to a dispute between FIFA and FIFUSA over the name of fútbol, FIFUSA registered the word fut-sal in 1985 (Madrid, Spain). In the 1990s, FIFA wanted to promote and spread its own version of indoor football, different from the original one played in the South American countries, but didn't manage to find an agreement with FIFUSA in the Rio de Janeiro Congress in 1989. In 2000, there was an attempt to repair the situation in Guatemala, while FIFA was celebrating in this country holding its fourth World Championship.
In 2002, FIFUSA was reorganised into AMF.
AMF has 58 national federations and six continental federations.
Confederations
The following confederations are affiliated to AMF:
Tournaments
The AMF and its respective confederations organise futsal tournaments around the world which predate the respective tournaments organised by FIFA and its confederations. The AMF Futsal World Cup is held every 4 years.
Controversy
The AMF is one of the few global sports organizations that allow teams which are not from officially recognized states, such as Abkhazia, Kosovo and South Ossetia, or the Spanish regions of Catalonia, the Basque Country and Galicia. As a result of this, several big players continue to boycott the AMF in support of FIFA Futsal, including Spain, the World number two FIFA Futsal team, according to the ELO-based rankings.