I went to watch an international futsal game, Japan vs Ukraine, in Yoyogi yesterday. To brush up my futsal skill, I needed to watch professional players' technique.
You might ask me if there are professinal futsal player in Japan? Yes. Last year, a professional futsal league, F.League, started in Japan. 8 teams are competing in the league.
Because the league is very young, Japanese futsal's professionality looks lower than any other major sports. Even though the game I watched was an international game, only around 5000 people came to watch it. The ticket for the game cost 1000 - 2000 yen. Compared with other professional sports, it was very cheap. For example, a baseball game is about twice, and a soccer game is about twice or three times.
That's why Japanese futsal players must have the difficulty to earn money.
In Yoyogi gymnasium, I thought most of around 5000 audiences play futsal by themselves. They love futsal very much.
But, I thought the league needs the people who watches futsal but don't play it. Most successful professional sports are getting their supporters as pure watchers.
Futsal is compact, easy to understand, and speedy. So it's entertaining. I think this sport can become more popular to one of the major sports in Japan.
To be honest, watching soccer is sometimes boring for me, but I didn't have such a feeling about futsal.
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