'Pele of Futsal' Falcao to feature in Premier Futsal league in India

Alessandro Rosa Vieira, popularly known as Falcao (not Radamel Falcao of Colombia), is going to feature in Premier Futsal, and this is indeed a huge news. Falcao is also known as the "Pele of Futsal" and is a legend of the game.

Not many in India would have heard of futsal. It is similar to football but played in smaller grounds with five players on each side. Each game is split into two halves of 20 minutes each. There is also a timeout of one minute in each of the halves.

This game involves a lot of one-on-one encounters, is much faster than football, requires extraordinary skills and the numbers of goals scored are two-three times higher than in football.

Now that we know what futsal is, we can slowly and steadily understand the value of the league, which will take place in India from July 15-24, and feature Falcao in it.

Falcao currently plays for Futsal Brasil Kirin, also known as Sorocaba Futsal (a Brasilian Fustal team from the city of Sorocaba) in Sao Paulo.

He has been adjudged the "Best Futsal Player in the World" in 2004, 2006, 2011 and 2012. Two World Cups and four World Player of the Year honours have made Falcao a household name in Brazil, and he is ready to light things up in India.

He is extremely happy to be a part of Premier Futsal, and expressed his delight when presented with his jersey at the Premier Futsal talent hunt event in Bengaluru on Thursday.

"I'm extremely excited to be competing in the inaugural season of Premier Futsal. The league holds a lot of promise and has the potential to grow what is a truly spectacular, fast-paced sport in a major way not just in India but globally. Personally, I'm really looking forward to testing my skills against not just the world's top Futsallers but also the top football players in the world," Falcao told reporters on Thursday.

Over 50 international futsalers from four continents and 21 countries, are expected to play in the Premier Futsal League in India.