The secrets of Brazilian Football

If you stopped a random person on the street and asked them to name one fact about Brazil, there’s a good chance they’d turn around to you and say, “they’re good at football”. So good in fact that the Brazilian national football team has won five World Cup tournaments, more than any other country in the world, and is the only team to have played in every single one.

It makes sense then to want to play like a Brazilian and now children between the ages of 5 and 17 in West London can learn to do just that, following the launch of a Brazilian Soccer School in Ealing this month.

The West Acton based school is one of over 700 worldwide that teach children about Futebol de Salao, a popular Brazilian 5-a-side variation of the beautiful game proven to be more effective than the traditional teaching methods used at other football academies across the UK.

“Lots of professional footballers learn through Futebol de Salao and believe it’s the way to go” says Naveed Urmani, a football coach and West London franchisee of the Brazilian Soccer Schools. “They’re happy to promote it”

Former pupils of the schools include premiership stars such as Wayne Rooney and Michael Owen, while Brazilian football legends such as Pele, Ronaldo and Ronaldinho all name Futebol de Salao as the reason behind their talent and success on the pitch.

While similar to regular football, Futebol de Salao is a more skill based game due to the use of smaller, heavier balls that don’t bounce. Familiarity with the ball, flexibility and fancy footwork are required over strength, speed and high kicking.

Naveed believes that teaching Futebol de Salao is the best way for children to learn how to play football.

“In the UK kids are kicking the ball and running after it and the fastest and strongest are going to score. That’s not what Futebol de Salao is. It’s about getting kids comfortable with the ball and having the knowledge of what to do with it once you’ve got it. This is very much the way Brazilian footballers play”

“At an early stage we tend to focus on individual practice. In a game of normal football you’re maybe going to get the ball for about three minutes in the whole game. What are they going to learn from that?”

But the coaches at the Brazilian Soccer School don’t just aim to improve their pupils’ game. They also teach their pupils to respect and encourage their fellow players.

“In Brazil they have samba dancing, which means they can use their hips and flow with the ball. Kids are afraid do to do all that in the playground because if they fall they get laughed at. Here if they fall they just get up again and carry on. No-one laughs at them”

The first school was founded in Leeds in 1998 by primary schoolteacher Simon Clifford, who witnessed Brazilian training methods, including Futebol de Salao, firsthand during a trip to the country and created a learning programme for British children based on his discoveries. Ten years later, over one million children in 61 countries receive coaching at a Brazilian Soccer School.

With 140 children attended the taster sessions for the new school in Ealing, Naveed is optimistic about the future.

“A couple of parents came up to us last week and said that they were taking their kids out of their regular football classes and sending them here instead”

“We don’t care about money or anything like that. We just want to teach kids the right way to play football”.

Photo Courtesy of bbc.co.uk

Video Courtesy of youtube.com user BSSchannel