CHICAGO (March 7, 2023) – Marcia Tafarel has been named as the inaugural head coach of the U.S. Women’s Futsal National Team, a program launching as part of U.S. Soccer’s Extended National Teams department this month. The team will stage its first international identification camp in Walnut Creek, Calif., from March 23-26, becoming the Federation’s ninth Extended National Team.
U.S. Soccer announced plans to begin organizing the team at its 2022 Annual General Meeting and in December, FIFA announced it had approved the addition of a FIFA Futsal Women’s World Cup to its slate of international competitions. No timetable has been confirmed for the first FIFA Futsal Women’s World Cup. UEFA has staged a European Women’s Futsal Championship since 2019.
Tafarel joins U.S. Soccer with an extensive international playing and coaching background in both soccer and Futsal. She was a long-time member of the Brazil Women’s National Team, where she was a part of two Women’s World Cups (1991, 1995), and the 1996 Olympic Games. Tafarel has been coaching Futsal in the United States since 2004 and holds a U.S. Soccer “B” Coaching License.
“I’m extremely excited to guide the launch of the U.S. Women’s Futsal National Team with U.S. Soccer,” said Tafarel. “I’ve played and coached the sport my entire life, so to have a chance to build a team and eventually face international competition in the years ahead is a wonderful opportunity. We will be looking for players from all corners of the country to establish our player pool in the coming year.”
U.S. Soccer will stage a number of Identification Camps this year to build the team’s player pool, with an eye on its first international competition taking place sometime in 2024.
Along with Tafarel, U.S. Soccer also appointed Sascha Filippi as the team’s assistant coach. Filippi has an array of international Futsal club coaching experience in France, Catalonia and the United States, where he has been coaching since 2015.
“I’m extremely passionate about the sport of women’s Futsal,” said Filippi, currently a coach with the Alexandria Soccer Association in Virginia, “I’m looking forward to being part of the technical staff that gets to build this program from the beginning.”
Tafarel and Filippi will work together to identify players, schedule camps and eventually guide the team at international competition in the years ahead.
Futsal is an indoor version of the sport of soccer, with teams fielding five players each on a court that measures 40 by 20 meters. It is sanctioned by FIFA and is a contraction of the Spanish words "fútbol sala."
For more information on the sport or to inquire about athlete eligibility, please contact U.S. Soccer's Extended National Teams Department via email at extendednt@ussoccer.org.