Reaching for the top

OLDHAM Athletic's newly-formed futsal club are only three games away from qualifying for the Northern section of the FA National Futsal League.

This Saturday, Athletic do battle with the University of York, East Coast, and Liverpool and Albert Park clubs at the Hillsborough Leisure Centre in Sheffield, with all the sides vying for the honour of playing in the national competition in 2010.

Oldham boast players with national and international-level futsal experience.

Some come from as far afield as Portugal while others have progressed from the Kickz project.

“The team have been training hard for a few months now and have improved massively in such a short space of time," said Athletic Futsal Club player-coach James Mwale.

"This is a great opportunity to have an Oldham Athletic team represented in the highest tier of the English futsal game and it now comes down to three matches.

"We see futsal as a great way of developing football talent through all areas of our work within the Community.

“Through the National League there are also opportunities to qualify for the Futsal UEFA Cup, which would be a dream for us to be involved in, but one day you never know.”

Futsal is a skills-based indoor version of football played between teams of five players using a reduced-size ball. Athletic Futsal Club have ambitions of developing the technique-based game throughout the borough, with the Community Trust linking with local schools and grassroots clubs.