“During my childhood in Portugal, all we played growing up was Futsal. The smaller court helped my footwork skills, the nature of the game made me feel so free when I played. If it wasn’t for Futsal, I would definitely not be the player that I am today.”

“As a little boy in Argentina, I played futsal on the streets and for my club. It was tremendous fun, and it really helped me become who I am today.”

“In futsal, you see whether a player is really talented. In normal football you don't necessarily identify talent as easily because it's so much more physical. But with futsal, you notice the small details in quality, class and tactical understanding."

“It played a role in my youth – we were almost obliged to play futsal, because it helps you think faster, it helps you with ball control, it helps you playing in small spaces. In Brazil, it is the most normal thing in the world, everybody plays it, and that's why they have the elevated individual technical skills.”

"When I look back at my own football career, I can honestly say it started with futsal, though at the time it was simply street football or football in the school playground. “I've also been lucky enough to come up against leading futsal players in Serbia and Italy, and they are truly football masters – grandmasters, even. If you want to be a great futsal player, you have to know how to use the ball in a confined space sometimes the size of a coin. The action is often amazing and tends to produce brilliant goals.”

“Futsal helps a lot because you need to think quickly. It's a more dynamic game and today in Europe, there's not much space so you need to think quicker and futsal has helped me a lot with that. Futsal is one of my passions. I always loved to play, but unfortunately I had to stop to progress on the football pitch.”