Study visit: Buenos Aires and baby futbol

The list of great players to emerge from Argentina makes for impressive reading. 

Sergio Aguero, Carlos Tevez, Ezequiel Lavezzi, Javier Saviola, Juan Riquelme, Javier Zanetti, Erik Lamela and Esteban Cambiasso are just a few of Argentina’s current crop of exports who have left to enjoy life at some of European football’s biggest clubs.

It is a path well-followed. A glance back through history only serves to underline the country’s reputation for producing precocious talent. The names Alfredo Di Stefano and Diego Maradona prove the case in point.

Of course, there are lots more. There is, however, a unique connection that the aforementioned all share: they have all grown up in the districts in or around Argentina’s capital, Buenos Aires.

What is baby futbol?

Baby futbol is a small-sided 5-a-side form of the game. The word baby refers to something small, in this case the number of players and the size of the facilities. Baby futbol is a contact sport and mostly adopts the same rules as 11v11.

Baby futbol basics:

• 5-a-side - including a goalkeeper.
• Games can be played with a minimum number of three players on each side.
• Two halves of 20 minutes each with a five minute half-time break.
• Roll on and off substitutes.
• The ball is out of play when it has completely crossed a line or goal.
• “Sidelines" do not apply in baby futbol - the facilities used mean that the ball is often rebounded off the wall.
• The goalkeeper cannot make a pass into the opposition’s half from a goal kick, instead playing out to a teammate in their own half.
• Longer passes from within the defending half to attacking half can be made by outfield players.
• The goalkeeper may not leave the penalty area at any time (three strikes and out rule).
• Throw-ins can be made with feet or hands according to regulations of the Championship.
• Throw-ins must be under waist height.
• The referee can teach and explain aspects of the game without awarding a foul (to help the development of players).
• No yellow or red cards displayed to players under the age of 10.

Buenos Aires

There are many theories presented for Buenos Aires’s ability to produce world-class footballing talent. Firstly, population: in South America, Buenos Aires is second only to Brazil’s Sao Paulo in terms of size.

Then, there’s the footballing way of life. Amidst the sprawling streets and shanty towns of Argentina’s biggest city, football is woven into the conscience of its many inhabitants. Boasting 24 teams, Buenos Aires has the highest concentration of professional clubs in any city worldwide.

However, it is the conditions and way of life in which many Argentinian’s are born which may offer an alternative reason for the rise of Argentina’s conveyor belt of world-class talent. Two-thirds of the city's residents live in apartment buildings where drug and gang culture is rife. Some studies estimate that four million people in the metropolitan Buenos Aires area live in poverty.

Many of Argentina's multi-millionaire footballers can be traced back to these most humble of beginnings. Carlos Tevez’s upbringing in Buenos Aires’s notorious Fuerte Apache neighbourhood is one of the most publicised.

Regarded amongst the most dangerous places in the world, Tevez has given interviews revealing that he would have most likely turned to the neighbourhood’s crime culture if it wasn’t for football. In some of Argentina’s most deprived areas football is the only escape route.

Baby futbol

From a very young age the children of Buenos Aires have the opportunity to play baby futbol. Similar in design to futsal, but more random and less structured, baby futbol is a small-sided 5-a-side form of the game played in a tighter area than the futsal court with a lighter ball. Sidelines and restarts are less important as the baby futbol facilities often allow the players to play off the surrounding walls.

Played in restricted spaces with fierce competitiveness, baby futbol encourages explosive play, a deftness of touch and quickness of thinking that many believe form the root of football in Argentina and the foundation stone for producing world class footballers.

To understand the scale and popularity of baby futbol, you only have to look at the number of participants in the FAFI league, regarded as the strongest baby futbol league in Buenos Aires. The FAFI league has seven leagues made up of 160 teams at each age group from U6-U14. Additionally, there are another five official baby futbol leagues in Buenos Aires alone - each made up of seven divisions with 20 teams for each age group.

Approximately 840 U11 teams play baby futbol in Buenos Aires every Saturday. With each squad made up of 12 players it is estimated that there are 10,080 U11 baby futbol players in the city and surrounding districts alone. Notably, these figures only account for organised and official baby futbol teams and do not take into account the many informal versions of the game played in the shanty towns.

As well as its huge popularity in Argentina and Uruguay, baby futbol is also enjoying rapid growth in Chile and Columbia. In all of these countries there is a cultural acceptance that baby futbol is a key part of a young player’s development between the ages of 5 to 13.

Between these ages baby futbol is not the only form of football young South American players take part in but instead it forms part of a varied games and training programme. Interestingly, young players who sign with professional clubs continue to play and train solely for baby futbol with an official baby futbol affiliated club in addition to their practice and games schedule with 11-a-side football.

Case study: The Parque Chas Saviola Baby Futbol Centre

Founded in 1929, Parque Chas is officially linked to three professional clubs - River Plate, Independiente and San Lorenzo. Until the age of 14, young players who sign for the youth academy of any of these professional clubs continue to train twice a week at baby futbol at Parque Chas and play for Parque Chas in a baby futsal league each Saturday.

Additionally, academy players train three times a week with their professional club and play 11-a-side football for their academy on Sundays. Young players under the age of 14 affiliated to River Plate, Independiente and San Lorenzo are involved in either baby futbol or the 11v11 format of the game every day with no rest days.

Although the exact figures are unsure, Gabriel Rodriguez, head coach at The Parque Chas Saviola Baby Futbol Centre, believes over 150 professional players have been developed at the facility. Of those, approximately 70 have gone on to represent Argentina at U17 and U20 level. Pargue Chas graduates include Lavezzi, Saviola, Lamella, Hernan Crespo and Pablo Zabaletta.

This article was first published in The Boot Room magazine in April 2014.