The Futsal Ferns do not yet have a World Cup to build towards but that is likely to change in the coming years and steps are currently being taken to ensure they are ready to compete at the highest level when that opportunity arises.

To that end, a 12-strong Futsal Ferns squad has been brought together for just the second ever time and will return to the court this week for the Gold Coast International Futsal Challenge. Coach Nic Downes will lead his side against four other teams representing governing bodies in Australia – Football West, Football Victoria, Capital Football and Football Queensland – with the aim of continuing to build towards what would be the biggest ever celebration of women’s futsal.

FIFA’s ground-breaking global strategy for women’s football – launched in October of last year – included the intention to introduce an international women’s futsal competition and Downes intends to take full advantage when one is finally put in place.

“What we see now is a fantastic opportunity for us to be ready for when that competition arrives,” he says.

“We’ve seen a lot of activity in Europe on the women’s futsal scene and Asia has had a competition running for a number of years so it’s only a matter of time before that international competition comes up. We want to make sure we’re at the level required to compete.”

Downes certainly had his eyes firmly focused on the future in making his selections for the Australia tour with half of the squad not involved in the inaugural group that swept aside New Caledonia in a three-match series in September of 2017.
 

Of the newcomers, four starred for New Zealand at the FISU World University Futsal Championship last August – namely Tessa Leong, Sarah Alder, Hannah Hegarty and Francesca Grange – while Rebecca Lake and Danielle Bradley will be representing their country in futsal for the first time. Lake does have international experience to draw on in football though after wearing the silver fern at age-group level.

Hannah Kraakman, Ella James and Sophie Williams are all out injured but Shivanthi Anthony, Jess Verdon, Dayna Manak, Leah Gubb, Britney-Lee Nicholson and Maxine Cooper all return from that inaugural squad, who defeated New Caledonia in a clean sweep in Tauranga.

“That was an amazing experience and we haven’t had anything since then so it’s awesome to now have some more experience to build on,” says captain Cooper, who also skippered the university national team in Kazakhstan after making her Futsal Ferns debut.

“Hopefully, we can come up against some sides that really give us something different and challenge us in new ways. We’re a little bit unsure of what to expect, some of the girls have had chances to go over to Aussie and we know they do play quite differently to us. But a lot of it is unknown and it’s exciting, we’re just going to play our game and try to improve what we do.”

Downes, who was also in charge of the university team, says it’s vital for the Ferns to be back in action with the prospect of a World Cup now very much on the horizon.

“I think it’s really important to continue building the brand for the Futsal Ferns and to build on the foundations we laid in 2017 when we came up against New Caledonia,” he says.

“We had a fantastic start there and instilled a number of ideas that we want in the team. Now we have another opportunity to get back on the court to further that vision and philosophy.”

The new-look Ferns prepared for their trip across the ditch with a two-day camp in Wellington towards the end of last year and another earlier this week in Auckland.

“We looked to add a few things to our playing style in Wellington and then the camp this week was just about refining what we did back then,” Downes says. “We want to make sure we know what we’re doing when we head over there and that the new players coming in understand the behaviours they’re supposed to have.”

The Gold Coast International Futsal Challenge runs from January 17 to 20, for results/fixtures and more information please click here

Futsal Ferns squad for Gold Coast International Futsal Challenge

Shivanthi Anthony (Auckland)
Jess Verdon (Auckland)
Dayna Manak (Auckland)
Leah Gubb (WaiBOP)
Maxine Cooper (Auckland)
Britney-Lee Nicholson (Mainland)
Tessa Leong (Auckland)
Rebecca Lake (Mainland)
Sarah Alder (Capital)
Francesca Grange (Capital)
Danielle Bradley (Auckland)
Hannah Hegarty (Mainland)

Coach: Nic Downes
Assistant coach: Shingo Ina
Team manager: Tracey Spray 
Physio: Emily Lo

Article added: Thursday 17 January 2019