RICHMOND, Va. (5-20-04) - Control of Futsal in the
U.S. is skewed. There is virtually no oversight, and
it appears that everyone connected with the sport is
acting for his own selfish purposes.

U.S. Futsal President and CEO Alex Para has sent a
tough-talking letter to a Futsal proponent in Kansas
City ordering him to cease and desist all activities
related to Futsal unless he stops using the term
"Futsal" in conjunction with an online Futsal sporting
goods store.

Kansas City has had one of the largest, most
productive youth Futsal programs in the U.S. They have
been one of the best examples in the U.S. of creative
energy and organization skill. But they've been
treated with complete disrespect by Para. All the
Kansas City group needed was honest communication with
the federation and both could have made great gains,
but they never got it.

There is a Futsal public out there that is playing the
game with enthusiasm, but they're not getting the
direction and support that they deserve.

Para managed to obtain the trademark rights to the
term "Futsal" in the United States, a term that
originated in Brazil and is used freely and without
constraint by FIFA and other soccer associations
throughout the world.

U.S. international Futsal competition is controlled by
U.S. Soccer and the Major Indoor Soccer League. Para
apparently gave up control of that when he affiliated
with U.S. Soccer in the late 1980s.

The current U.S. Futsal team is comprised almost
completely of players from the MISL, which plays the
wall game rather than Futsal. The MISL players are
capable, certainly, but they're playing Futsal as if
it were an afterthought and the basic motive of U.S.
Soccer and the MISL appears to be more to control the
game rather than develop it.

It seems that everyone connected with Futsal in the
U.S. is at crossed purposes. No one knows what the
other is doing. Each person has his own personal
motive for gaining a piece of the sport. There's is no
unity of purpose, and there are no well-defined goals.

There is no professional Futsal league in the U.S. A
professional Futsal league was on the drawing board
when the U.S. Minisoccer Federation began operating in
the early 1980s under the leadership of President
Osvaldo Garcia. There would first be regional leagues
sending representatives to a national championship,
and from that would evolve a professional league. U.S.
Futsal players would come from those leagues. But when
Para took over control of the federation, that goal
never came close to being realized.

The only time anyone hears about Para, it's negative.
One minute he's mismanaging U.S. Futsal board of
directors meetings and not telling state associations
where their money is going. And the next minute he's
sending letters of warning to a Futsal proponent not
to use the term "Futsal".

Para's intimidating note to Kansas City is just the
most recent example.

If this situation is not corrected, there may be
negative publicity on a much greater scale about the
mismanagement of Futsal in the U.S., and all concerned
are going to wish they resolved the problem sooner.





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