FAI Futsal Cup

Last updated
FAI Futsal Cup
Organising body Football Association of Ireland
Founded 2007
RegionFlag of Ireland.svg  Republic of Ireland
Current championsBlue Magic
Most successful club(s) Eden (5 wins)
Blue Magic (5 finals)

The FAI Futsal Cup is a cup competition organized by the Football Association of Ireland for futsal teams based in the Republic of Ireland. The winners qualify to represent the Republic of Ireland in the UEFA Futsal Cup. [1] [2] [3] The competition was introduced in 2007 and the inaugural winners were Shamrock Rovers. The 2007 tournament was referred to as the Eircom U21 Futsal League and the 2008 and 2009 tournaments were referred to as the Futsal League of Ireland or the FAI National Futsal League. Since 2010 it has generally been referred to as the Ireland Futsal Union Cup.

Contents

History

Early tournaments

The FAI Futsal Cup was originally awarded to the winners of the Eircom U21 Futsal League, a tournament featuring futsal teams attached to clubs playing in the League of Ireland U21 Division. The competition was officially launched at Dublin City University on 13 February 2007 with a reception attended by, among others, Packie Bonner. Eights clubs from the U21 Division, including Bohemians, Bray Wanderers, Drogheda United, Dundalk, Monaghan United, Shamrock Rovers, St Patrick's Athletic and UCD entered the inaugural tournament. [4] [5] These eight clubs first played in a league stage featuring a single round of games. [6] The top four from this stage – UCD, Shamrock Rovers, Bohemians and Bray Wanderers – then qualified for a final four tournament played at the National Basketball Arena. In the final, with a team coached by Dave Campbell and featuring Ciarán Kilduff and Dane Massey, Shamrock Rovers defeated UCD 4–2. [7] [8] [9] [10] St Patrick's Athletic won the second tournament in 2008 [11] [12] and Cork City, with a team featuring Kevin Long, were winners in 2009. [13] [14] [15] Long was one of several future Republic of Ireland internationals who featured in the early tournaments. Others included David Meyler (Cork City), [16] Séamus Coleman (Sligo Rovers) and James McClean (Derry City). Former Republic of Ireland international, Gary Kelly, played for Drogheda United in the 2008 tournament. Other players to feature included Gary McCabe and Jay O'Shea, both of whom played for Bray Wanderers. [17] [18]

Format

As the number of entrants increased the format of the tournament changed. Fourteen clubs entered the 2009 competition and clubs initially played in three divisions – a Leinster Division, a Munster Division and a North-West Division. [19] In 2010 the tournament was expanded to include clubs from the Emerald Futsal League in addition to futsal teams associated with League of Ireland clubs. Junior clubs and representative teams of junior leagues were also invited to participate, resulting in a record entry of 32 teams. The 2010 format saw four preliminary qualifying tournaments – one per province – been staged throughout the country. [1] [18] The 2015 tournament featured eleven clubs. [20]

Eden era

Playing under various names including, Sporting Fingal EID, [21] EID Futsal [22] and Eden College, [2] [23] Eden Futsal Club won the FAI Futsal Cup five times in a row between 2010 and 2014. [24]

Blue Magic

After finishing as runners up in 2010, 2011 and 2012, [21] [22] [2] Blue Magic won the FAI Futsal Cup for the first time in 2015 [25] and then retained the cup in 2016. [26]

Finals

SeasonWinnerScoreRunner-UpVenue
2007 Shamrock Rovers [8] [9] [27] 4–2 UCD National Basketball Arena
2008 St Patrick's Athletic [11] [12] 3–1 (Note 1) Bohemians National Basketball Arena
2009 Cork City [13] [14] [15] 4–2 (Note 1) St Patrick's Athletic National Basketball Arena
2010 Sporting Fingal EID [21] 4–2Blue MagicBRL Umbro Arena, Ballymun
2011 EID Futsal [22] [28] 3–2Blue Magic Gormanston College
2012 EID Futsal [2] 7–4Blue MagicALSAA Sports Complex
2013 Eden College [23] [29] 6–2 Shamrock Rovers National Basketball Arena
2014 Eden [24] [30] 6–3FCG Dublin Futsal AIT International Arena
2015Blue Magic [25] 6–5B&H United National Basketball Arena
2016Blue Magic [26] 7–3Transylvania
2017
Notes

Source: [31] [32]

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{{Infobox National futsal team | Name = Republic of Ireland | Badge = | Badge size = 130px | Nickname = The Boys in Green | Association's = [[Football Association of Ireland]

 [Ireland Futsal Union]] 
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