Why futsal needs its own tactics board
Futsal is not soccer on a small pitch. The court is 40 metres long, there are no throw-ins but kick-ins, the goalkeeper's area is a 6-metre arc and every player attacks and defends. Draw a futsal play on a soccer pitch and the distances are wrong: a pass that crosses the whole court looks like a short ball in midfield.
Here the court is a real futsal court, with the centre circle, the 6-metre area, the penalty marks at 6 and 10 metres and the substitution zones. The formations are the ones futsal coaches use, with the right number of players, and the positions are where they would be in a match: the fixo at the back, the two wingers wide, the pivot with his back to goal.
Rotations, the 5 v 4 and set plays, animated
The hardest thing to teach in futsal is movement. A 3-1 or a 4-0 rotation is a chain: the player who passes moves, the next one fills the space, the whole team turns without losing its shape. On a whiteboard it becomes a mess of arrows. On this board you draw it in frames: where everyone is, where they go after the pass, where they end up. The board plays the movement between frames, so players see the rotation happen instead of reading it.
The same goes for the moments that decide futsal matches:
- The 5 v 4 with a flying goalkeeper: the pentagon, the quick switches, who stays to cover the empty goal.
- Defending the 5 v 4: the diamond in front of the goal and who presses the ball.
- Corners and kick-ins: the screen, the decoy run, the first-time shot.
- Pressing: full-court, half-court or a low block, with the triggers to jump.
A digital board or a magnetic one?
A magnetic futsal board is quick at half-time: four magnets, a marker, done. It cannot show movement, though, and when the match is over the plan is wiped off. A digital board keeps every play you draw, animates it and goes where your players are: on the TV in the dressing room before the match, in the team chat the evening before training, on your phone at the side of the court.
Many coaches use both: the digital board to prepare and explain, the magnetic one for the quick fix during a time-out. If you want the digital one on the bench too, the app works on phones and tablets with the same court and the same plays.
From the board to your team
Open full board takes your play to the complete board in a new tab, exactly as you left it. There you can save it, export it as a video or an image, present it full screen and keep working on it: add the opponent, draw the defensive shape, put names and numbers on your players.
The free version keeps up to 3 boards, 2 formations of your own and 2 squads with names and numbers. Premium removes the limits, opens every ready-made play, exports PDF drill sheets and syncs everything between the web and the app on your phone and tablet.