Former Qatar international Obeid Jumaa believes that tournaments such as the Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy (SC)-sponsored Al Rayyan Futsal Championship will help enhance the football skills of Qatari children.  
Talking to www.sc.qa on the sidelines of the Ramadan tournament, Jumaa said youth development ahead of the 2022 FIFA World Cup Qatar should focus on cultivating superior on-the-ball technical skills and that promoting futsal is one of the most effective ways to make this happen.     
“We need Qatari kids to be good on the ball and thinking on their feet. This is the Asian way of playing,” said Jumaa.
“Saudi Arabian striker Saeed al-Owairan scored a goal of great technical brilliance against Belgium in the World Cup in 1994. Japan have been adopting a technical, possession-based style over the last decade.
“Qatar have skilful players but we need to promote this approach among high school kids for it to be the national team’s ideology by 2022. There is no point in shipping them out to Europe at a tender age. Like a sapling, they need local soil to be nurtured. Therefore, futsal needs to be taken to every school in Qatar. The SC has done a great job in sponsoring the Al Rayyan Championship. Tournaments such as this will help embed futsal in the popular culture of the country.”
Former Qatar international Adel Khamis, who is also the chairman of the Al Rayyan Ramadan Futsal Championship, agreed with Jumaa.
“We need to develop an Asian philosophy of playing technical football and futsal is an important way to make this happen. This approach has to start from the grassroots and go all the way up to the national team. Japan should be the model of excellence before us. They are easily a level higher than most other Asian teams today but were very ordinary when I was playing,” said Khamis, who made 110 appearances for ‘Al Annabi’ between 1984 and 2000, a spell that included three AFC Asian Cups.
Khamis believes futsal will play an important role towards realising the objective of evolving a distinct style.
“These days, the Aspire Academy is trying to develop a technical style based on possession. Making futsal a mass sport among kids will be a great way forward. Five years ago, Qatar had not heard of futsal. Now the country has a national team and youth team in the format. Most of the Qatar Stars League (QSL) clubs have professional teams in the code. There is also a school league. I am sure that in 2022, Qatar will have a vibrant futsal culture. And the SC’s patronage in making this happen will be an important legacy of the first ever World Cup in the Middle East.”     
Many professional futsal players, including national team members of Qatar and some European countries, are part of the Al Rayyan tournament, which will help in promoting the code.
 “Futsal is still in its infancy in Qatar. It has a long way to go but I am sure that by 2022 the country will have a futsal culture to complement the already deeply entrenched football culture,” said futsal player Lucas De Oliviera, who is participating in the Al Rayyan Championship.
“Qatari youngsters can transfer good futsal skills to football just as Brazilians have done. Players like Ronaldinho, Ronaldo and Neymar honed their skills through futsal,” added De Oliviera who moved to Doha from Brazil eight years ago.
“Through futsal, the next generation of Qatar players will learn to be as good on the ball in limited spaces as some Asian counterparts from Japan, Korea and Iran.”   
Dutch-Iranian Mohamed Darri, who plays for the Netherlands national team, encouraged Qatari kids to take to futsal in large numbers.
“Futsal is all about loving the ball – you get more touches than in traditional football. It produces breathtaking moments of skills and magic, along the lines of those dished out in various World Cup tournaments over the years. We all remember Diego Maradona’s second goal against England in 1986 and Denis Bergkamp’s against Argentina in 1998. Those are the skills one can develop by taking to futsal at a young age.”
Dutch-Moroccan Amir Molkarai, a team-mate of Darri in the national side, says the secret of superior technical skills of Dutch and Brazilian footballers is alternative forms of football such as futsal.
 “In Holland, street football has been very strong historically,” he said.
“Through Johan Cryuff, we taught Europe to play a technical brand of football. Players such as Ruud Gullit, Bergkamp and Arjen Robben have followed in his footsteps. Through futsal, Qatar can produce a future generation which is as skilful as some of our former greats.”
SC.qa