The number of football and futsal players in Portugal broke records in 2022, with 13,239 federated athletes. Unveiled by the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF), the song shows the relentless evolution of the practice of the two sports under the auspices of the entity headed by Fernando Gomes.
Last year’s new maximum number of registered practitioners exceeds pre-pandemic values (see list). Since 2010, the number of athletes playing football and futsal has almost tripled, from 5,406 to 13,239. That means Portugal has added 7,833 players in the past 12 years.
In football alone, last season ended with a new maximum of 9200 registered athletes in the various championships, from under-7 to seniors, a category with 2211 players, around 400 of whom play in the 12 first tier clubs, the Liga BPI.
And if futsal promises to grow much more after FIFA values the modality and announces the creation of a World Cup – allowing the modality to be Olympic – soccer can also continue to grow thanks to an increasingly attractive and competitive BPI League and an increasingly competitive and valued national team .
Portugal is 22nd in the FIFA ranking and could qualify for a World Cup for the first time. O playoff qualification for the 2023 World Cup is on February 22 against Cameroon or Thailand.
Source: DN
