Get all your news in one place.
100's of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Sport
George Nash

‘Friends and family shouldn’t be paying for us’: England futsal team overcome funding cuts

Stuart Cook playing futsal
Stuart Cook has more than 80 caps and is regarded as one of England’s finest futsal players. Photograph: Scott Heavey/The FA/Getty Images

Resilience. The England men’s futsal team will likely need more than a little of it when they kick off their Uefa 2026 Euros main-round qualifying campaign in Bosnia and Herzegovina on Friday. Thankfully, resilience is something the players and staff are well-versed in.

The game will be the first for the men’s senior team since 2019 after the programme was axed when the Football Association cut all funding to elite futsal four years ago. Uncertainty has defined the period since, and while the fixture in Zenica, a city north of Sarajevo, will be a landmark trip, the journey has been far from straightforward.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100's of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.