Mark P

englandfootball.com/articles/2025/… From September 2025. I hadn't realised that the England senior teams of netball, rugby, cricket and golf were all welcome to train at St George's Park and in the futsal hall...except for the @EnglandFutsal lions and lionesses !!! Bizarre discrimination again from futsal's National Governing Body @FA Why is this tolerated ? @Sport_England @UEFAFutsal @TeleFootball @Futsal_Focus

Multiple MPs have been rebuffed by @FA and @DCMS and even @Sport_England refuses to answer why they accept @FA 's blatant suppression of futsal. The Chairman of @EnglandFutsal also seems disillusioned and must be wondering what he signed up to. Basically @thefa is a private company, has £300m in the bank and has a monopoly over football and futsal so they can do whatever they want without fear of challenge.

@mcp_2025 @EnglandFootball @EnglandFutsal @FA @FA_NFS Could this be because not enough people are seeking answers to these questions? Or do @FA operate in such a position where they aren’t answerable to us, the paying public?

englandfootball.com/articles/2026/… Great article on @EnglandFootball website about futsal with girls' ETC finals and @EnglandFutsal even get a mention 👏👏 but @EnglandFootball have 2 million followers on X and haven't posted this or indeed anything about futsal for 4 years including last week's high profile and history-making 3 Lions and 2 Lionesses matches at @lborouniversity The clear implication is that @FA only value futsal as an 'occasional development tool' for youth football and not as a sport in its own right. Unacceptable behaviour from futsal's NGB !! @Sport_England @BBCSport @TeleFootball @Futsal_Focus @UEFAFutsal

The persistent rumour is that the @FA CEO who was appointed in 2019 just doesn't see any commercial value in futsal so he used Covid to close the whole programme. That would also explain their 'outsource and ignore' strategy when @EnglandFutsal was launched in 2022. Happy to have the rumours proved wrong of course. Transparency is key to building trust but all our questions get ignored.

@mcp_2025 @EnglandFootball @EnglandFutsal @FA @FA_NFS Agreed…& via @FA “Future Fit” at grassroots club level futsal’s not even getting a mention! Let’s remember, the FA’s 1st Futsal National Representative team was 2003!!!

I think we have to accept the likely reality that @FA have positioned futsal to these big clubs as purely a development module for youth football in their football academies. If that is what their NGB is advising/mandating them to do, why would they go any further ?Both @FA_NFS and @EnglandFutsal lions and lionesses are completely ignored by @FA so the big clubs are just following the their NGB guidance.

@mcp_2025 @EnglandFootball @EnglandFutsal Question remains: Why are there NO representative teams of these high profile football clubs playing regular competitive futsal above U12 age group? What are they afraid of? #futsal #England #football

@Sport_England When will you be reopening the NGB recognition process which has been closed for 4 years ? Will it be harder or easier for organisations to receive and maintain recognition and how will you excuse @FA from its obligation to plan, promote and develop futsal, whether as its own sport or as a discipline of football ? - your existing rules are clear as is @FA's deliberate refusal to comply. Perhaps @FA should be de-recognised for futsal ? You recognise other sports without an NGB. @BBCSport @TeleFootball @Futsal_Focus @UEFAFutsal

As @EnglandFootball roll out all their FutureFit programme, it is extremely disappointing to see that the highly relevant futsal has been deleted everywhere. (The former Futsal Committee Chair expected something much more inclusive a year ago). For @FA, it seems that Futsal is neither its own 'sport' nor a 'format of football'. Do @Sport_England condone this ? Furthermore @EnglandFutsal is not even referenced or signposted anywhere on the @EnglandFootball website. Hardly the treatment an @FA Official Delivery Partner would expect ! @Sport_England @BBCSport @TeleFootball @Futsal_Focus @UEFAFutsal

@grimsby_futsal @CarlWoodrow @EnglandFutsal @FA Agreed. @FA also really need to take the whole programme back in house and fulfil their obligations as the NGB of futsal. Organisations generally outsource non-core functions. Futsal is a core responsibility of the @FA and it should be run internally not externally.

@mcp_2025 @CarlWoodrow @EnglandFutsal @FA Another relevant point is the FA has gifted EF Limited & EF CIC Limited unlimited opportunity to fill their pockets and in the case of EF Limited walk away with that money. The EF contract expires shortly, the FA needs to be starting a tender process now.

A great post from @EnglandFutsal followed by some interesting reflections on LinkedIn from their Chairman. Some answers to the 2 questions he has posed - 1 - as you are the official delivery partner of futsal for the @FA why not ask them why they as NGB refuse to fund, promote, support or even acknowledge anything futsal-related ? 2 - why on earth would any commercial sponsor or funder like @Sport_England help fund an @FA project that the @FA themselves won't fund or acknowledge? @FA has over £300m cash at bank but not a penny for futsal. Good luck finding someone who wants to subsidise @FA under those circumstances. @Sport_England @BBCSport @TeleFootball @Futsal_Focus @UEFAFutsal

@CarlWoodrow @EnglandFutsal @FA Agreed, but in the absence of transparency, I'm afraid we have to fear the worst. Transparency builds trust, secrecy builds suspicion.

@mcp_2025 @EnglandFutsal @FA Hard to know the full story when not everything gets said

@CarlWoodrow @EnglandFutsal @FA Great question. 2 options - either he knew the FA didn't care and would never support them, in which case he has been very naive or second option - maybe the FA did promise to promote and support the project but then reneged on the deal. Neither option is palatable.

@mcp_2025 @EnglandFutsal @FA I don't know who the chairman is. But surely he became chairman knowing the FA don't care?

And another post from the Chairman of @EnglandFutsal "Imagine what could be created" ......if our NGB @FA recognised, promoted, accepted and invested in futsal. @EnglandFutsal was launched in December 2022 after 'an 18-month design process with @FA ' and yet they seem constantly surprised by the fact that nobody wants to fund an FA-controlled project that the FA themselves will neither fund nor acknowledge. Either @EnglandFutsal are naive or the community is being gaslit. @Sport_England @BBCSport @TeleFootball @Futsal_Focus @UEFAFutsal @UEFAFutsal

@EnglandFutsal Great stats which quite rightly evidence a great event. 🎉🎉🎉 Surely something for @FA to celebrate or even just acknowledge ?

International Futsal Week: The Numbers 🦁📊 🏟️ A quality fan experience 🥅 High-octane international futsal with a nailbiting finale 📲 Socials creating a wave with young fans 📺 Viewers from 50+ countries tuning in to the live action with comms & co-comms This sport ❤️🙌

What a great series of games and well done Northern Ireland men against home nations rivals @EnglandFutsal 🎉🎉 But why do @FA take @UEFAFutsal money, enter their tournaments, agree to host a mini-tournament and then totally ignore those events before, during and afterwards? @Sport_England @BBCSport @TeleFootball @Futsal_Focus

Northern Ireland and Estonia progress for the first time 🙌 All the action from the #FutsalWC preliminary round qualifiers ⤵️

More great publicity from futsal's NGB in Northern Ireland 👏👏👏 whilst we endure 4 years of silence from @FA Why do they hate futsal so much ? And why have they totally ignored their official delivery partner @EnglandFutsal ever since they signed a partnership deal with them in December 2022 ? @Sport_England @BBCSport @TeleFootball @Futsal_Focus @UEFAFutsal

Wonderful for Northern Ireland's national futsal teams to get this enthusiastic acknowledgment and publicity from their National Governing Body. 🤞🤞🎉🎉 If only @FA would acknowledge any matches or activity delivered by @EnglandFutsal That's 26 international matches in 4 years (men, women and u19s) and not a single acknowledgement from @FA @England or @Lionesses Why such determined silence from futsal's NGB in England ? @Sport_England @BBCSport @TeleFootball @Futsal_Focus @UEFAFutsal

3 years ago today. Mixed emotions. 🎉and 😢. @marquinhoxavier brought his @CBF_Futsal Brazil men’s futsal team to England for a week’s training camp and a friendly with an England select team. How did @FA respond ? ✔️they were invited ❌ they boycotted it ❌they told @EnglandFutsal to ignore it ❌they denied being invited ❌they withheld referees ❌they blocked players from playing ❌they persecuted those who were involved (and continue to do so) ✔️ our community turned up in force to show their respect and appreciation 🎉🎉 And last week @FA totally ignored another high profile futsal week with @EnglandFutsal hosting 5 international matches at @lborouniversity with our wonderful futsal lions and lionesses. Why does English futsal’s NGB hate futsal so much and for so long (5 years and counting) ? No funding, no support, no acknowledgment - and no explanation. @Sport_England @UEFAFutsal @BBCSport @TeleFootball @Futsal_Focus

Still waiting for match reports from @EnglandFutsal Surely they don’t have policy of match reports only for wins and not for losses ? That would be crazy ! Or perhaps @FA have imposed restrictions on what @EnglandFutsal can post ?

Amazing venue for futsal in Germany 🎉🎉🎉 Time for @FA to build one of these for futsal in England. If Baller League can fill a venue, so can futsal. @EnglandFutsal @UEFAFutsal instagram.com/reel/DW_74Y3DT…