THE round-ball game that set Lionel Messi and Sergio Aguero on the road to soccer stardom is proving a hit in West Fife – and has the backing of an elite academy programme.

Futsal, which can be considered as a version of five-a-side football and was developed in Brazil and Uruguay during the 1930s and 40s, kicked off at Inverkeithing High School last January under the tutelage of Rosyth Community Coaching’s Russell Taylor.

Within a month 40 kids aged between five and 11 were taking part in classes and its soaring popularity saw a winter league programme introduced, in which 48 teams from across the Kingdom took part.

Now the game, which is played on a hard court surface with a smaller, heavier ball than a conventional five-a-side game and is limited by lines as the use of walls or boards is not permitted, has been backed by the Fife Elite Football Academy, which nurtures players for all four of Fife’s senior clubs.

Former Pars striker Faissal El Bakhtaoui famously played futsal, the emphasis of which is to improve players’ technique, ball control, creativity, improvisation and ability to pass into small spaces, before becoming a professional and Russell revealed that 82 teams have lined up to play in this year’s winter league.

He said: “Due to how popular futsal has become, we’ve got 82 teams playing in this year’s winter leagues at Woodmill and Beath High Schools, the Michael Woods Centre in Glenrothes and Kirkcaldy Leisure Centre. We’ve been able to buy a set of futsal goals for Woodmill which are similar in size to hockey goals but higher like football ones.

“I run the Futsal Escocia coaching course and we originally started at Inverkeithing High School, but now we’ve got sessions at Inverkeithing, Dalgety Bay Leisure Centre and Dunfermline High, and in Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy. When you see some of the best players in the world like Messi, Coutinho, Neymar and Aguero started in a futsal background – and Faissal El Bakhtaoui did too – there’s no better way of promoting it.

“The Fife Elite Football Academy are involved in the leagues too and it is great to see them embrace it and see that it can benefit the more advanced players. It is a boost for other clubs and Spartans 2007s are coming as well because there’s no league in Edinburgh. We hope to set one up there and establish a link in the future, and we’re looking to work with the Scottish Youth Football Association and schools to introduce futsal to primaries and secondaries.”

Russell continued: “We’ve had to create youth teams for 2005s, 2006s, 2007s and 2008s that includes players from Rosyth, Duloch, Crossgates and Inverkeithing Hillfield Swifts that gives them the opportunity to play other futsal teams in Scotland.

“We set up the leagues to run during the Soccer 7s break and we have coaching sessions for anyone from five to 12 years old. We are looking into sessions for older age groups as well because there is demand, and we also run a girls-only session which a lot of the Dunfermline Athletic girls go to.”

An adult Sunday night league also runs at Dunfermline High.

For more information, visit www.futsalescocia.co.uk or find Futsal Escocia on Facebook.