#FIFA Futsal World Cup 2021

Technical analysis of the FIFA Futsal World Cup Lithuania 2021™ now available

FIFA, 28 Dec 2021

FIFA

The ninth FIFA Futsal World Cup™ held in Lithuania 2021 was one of the most hotly-disputed editions in futsal history as Portugal captured the trophy for the very first time. As Jorge Braz's men became just the fourth different nation to lift the trophy, the FIFA Technical Study Group had plenty to analyse from the event.

Spearheaded by FIFA futsal instructors Graeme Dell and Miguel Rodrigo, the TSG have combined to deliver technical analysis from the Futsal World Cup which will be delivered in two phases – the first of which is available now.

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From left to right: Chris Loxston, Miguel Rodrigo, Graeme Dell, Ulf Schott, Alessandro Foglino, Pascal Zuberbühler

Prior to event, the TSG created a Futsal Analysis Framework to form the basis of the tournament analysis offering an unparalleled level of data that seeks to challenge or support the perceptions of game play and individual participation. With data collected across all 52 matches at the FIFA Futsal World Cup Lithuania 2021, this is the first time there has been such a comprehensive review of every second of every game in futsal.

With three teams (Angola, Venezuela and Lithuania) making their debut in the tournament, the 24 nations from six continents produced an incredible show of futsal racking up 301 goals in the 52 games.

It was ultimately Portugal who emerged victorious beating Argentina 2-1 in an absorbing final as the UEFA European Championship holders became world champions for the first time. That was just the headline however to an incredible story with plenty of twists and turns in Lithuania. Such was the quality on show, teams had to be more innovative than ever to be successful.

The individual brilliance of the likes of Golden Ball winner Ricardinho and topscorer Ferrao was there for all to see, but the tactical acumen and wide-ranging strategies employed made this one of, if not, the most enthralling and high quality Futsal World Cups in history.

As identified in the TSG’s technical analysis, and supported with the rich data set, never before has the kick-in been more important to a team’s attacking strategy. With 32 goals scored from kick-ins at this edition – over 10% of the overall total goals scored in the tournament – that was just one strand of play which was closely scrutinised by Dell and Miguel.

That, along with many other facets of the game, are dissected in a wide range of articles which can now be accessed on the FIFA Training Centre by navigating to the "Tournament observations" section at the bottom of  "The Game" page.

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