FA Kicks Off Futsal Partnership With Pokémon

The Pokémon Company International has entered a three-year partnership with The Football Association (The FA) to support The FA’s National Futsal Strategy.

The partnership begins immediately with Pokémon and The FA aiming to make Futsal a natural part of children’s football development. The focus in year one of the partnership will be on increasing participation of school and club teams from across England in The FA’s National Youth Futsal programme.

Throughout the partnership, The FA and Pokémon will use their shared values of evolution and progression through training to help appeal to children—raising Futsal’s profile, creating a clear identity for the game and developing a twin tracking pathway that will mean boys and girls can play Futsal as a part of their overall experience of the game.

Dan Kiddle, The FA’s Head of Commercial Partnerships, commented: “We are delighted to welcome the Pokémon Company International as a partner of The FA to support our National Futsal strategy and help grow participation in England. Pokémon is an instantly recognisable brand across the world and we are excited to work together to encourage young players, of all abilities, to play the game of Futsal.”

The FA views Futsal as integral to the progression of football standards across the country, with the current England men’s national team featuring a number of players who were brought up playing Futsal.

Because Futsal places emphasis on the technical ability, decision making and reaction time of players, it can result in more technically confident players, who can make good decisions under pressure.

The Pokémon Company International and The FA will work closely together to create and deliver an exciting range of initiatives at participating schools and clubs, culminating in The FA’s National Youth Futsal Festival in May 2020, as well as supporting the England men’s national Futsal team.

Michael Skubala, Head Coach of the England Futsal team, added: “It’s great to have such an iconic brand as Pokémon to sit alongside Futsal development in England. We will work hard together to engage with young players so that they can experience Futsal as part of their football development. It’s an exciting, fast-paced, technical game and I know they will love it.”