After starting with an open application process for grassroots teams back in September 2017, The FA Futsal Cup is now nearing its final stages.
National Finals weekend is coming up on Saturday 16 and Sunday 17 June in Walsall with four men’s teams and four women’s teams currently preparing to fight it out for glory.
The Futsal Cup, open to both male and female open age teams, has been steadily progressing through the rounds in recent months and has seen several upsets along the way.
And one of those came in the women’s Cup and has led to a local recreational team from Newcastle booking their place in the finals.
The Has Beens are a group of friends who have been participating in the Local Ladies’ Futsal League, run by the Durham FA for the past two seasons.
Their squad comprises of five current and three retired players from Newcastle United WFC, who are also enjoying recreational Futsal once a week.
They have now worked their way through the competition stages and beat Stoke City Ladies in the quarter finals in Nottingham earlier in May.
This means they will now join Loughborough Futsal Clubs Ladies and current Futsal Cup holders South London Ladies, who both play in The FA National Women’s Futsal League, and the University of Birmingham at the National Finals weekend.
"As a group, we are over the moon to progress through to the Finals weekend in June, especially with over half of the group being involved in a tough 11-a-side schedule over the past two weeks," said player manager Jill Stacey.
"Having only one player in the group who has played Futsal competitively in the BUCS league before we entered the regional league, we are very proud to be the last remaining representative team from this standard of Futsal."
Meanwhile, the men’s quarter finals take place on Sunday 10 June with the draw for semi-finals for both competitions taking place the following day.
The men’s competition has also seen some shock results with Grimsby Town FC Futsal, who take part in the EFL U19 programme, knocking out Sussex Futsal Club who have just been promoted to the Super League in an emphatic 6-3 win.
"Not many people fancied our chances, but we knew we had it in the tank to beat these and in all honesty it should have been more," said Grimsby coach Mark Westerby, who was delighted with his team’s performance.
"It’s obviously very pleasing to reach the last eight in the whole country in the men’s senior section, when our main focus is on the U19 EFL programme.
"It just shows what talent is coming out of Grimsby in Futsal."
