Inside the role of the TSG at the FIFA Futsal Women’s World Cup

The FIFA Futsal Women’s World Cup 2025 is the first of its kind. With each of the 16 participants making their global debut, the tournament marks a watershed moment for understanding the global state of the women’s game.

The following article uncovers this Technical Study Group’s (TSG) role at FIFA Futsal Women’s World Cup Philippines 2025™. Insights into the group’s unique purpose at the first-ever FIFA Futsal Women’s World Cup are provided by Graeme Dell, who is a TSG expert in the Philippines.

Key take-aways

The role of the TSG at FIFA Futsal World Cup 2025 is to observe, analyse and understand the futsal played at the inaugural tournament in order to guide future developmental initiatives.
The TSG’s blend of specialised knowledge of the women’s game and grasp of the broader futsal tradition offers a powerful basis for longitudinal study.
To generate findings that are both empirically sound and game-grounded, FIFA’s bespoke futsal framework is at the heart of the TSG’s work process.

The role of the TSG at FIFA Futsal Women’s World Cup 2025

The FIFA Futsal Women’s World Cup 2025 sees teams from different confederations compete for the right to be called the very first world champions. To match the historic and novel nature of the competition, the TSG are observing matches through a lens ultimately designed to help the women’s futsal community, explains Dell, who also served as a TSG expert at several men’s FIFA Futsal World Cups.

“The TSG’s role here is reconnaissance – it’s looking at the game to understand how the various departments across FIFA can help the development of women’s futsal. Through observation and data, we try to understand if there are differences between the women’s game and the men’s game, rather than taking that for granted.”

One of the main purposes of the TSG’s observations and analysis is to offer guidance to FIFA’s various departments and Member Associations on how best to shape the future of women’s futsal.

Dell, who is also a FIFA Futsal Technical Expert and development consultant, stresses the importance of going into the tournament with a willingness to learn.

“The important point is that we don’t presume to know about women’s futsal going into this tournament. We know about the broader game of futsal from what we’ve seen in the men’s FIFA competitions, but we truly have to understand futsal from a female perspective and all the nuances that go with that. Gaining this understanding requires observing the tournament right through to the final. From our findings, we can then look across Member Associations, with the assistance of our FIFA Performance Insights Team, and identify how we can help shape and support initiatives in women’s futsal over the next five to ten years.”

Additionally, the core functions of the TSG include awarding the Player of the Match, agreeing on the adidas Golden, Silver, and Bronze Ball awards, and determining the adidas Golden Glove. The TSG also assesses and scores various fair play characteristics.

A blend of specialisation

Several of the TSG experts bring elite-level expertise in the women’s game, while others provide technical insights from coach education and player development on the men’s side and previous FIFA Futsal World Cups. This blend helps the TSG to base its findings on specialised tactical and technical knowledge of the women’s game, while also drawing connections from other futsal traditions. The joint expertise also strengthens longitudinal analysis, factoring in futsal of the past with that yet to be played.

Expertise interwoven with data

FIFA’s bespoke futsal data is at the heart of the TSG’s work in the Philippines. The collection process, which is conducted by FIFA’s Football Performance Insights Team, has been in place since 2021, and the consistent collection framework was applied to the FIFA Futsal World Cups in 2021 and 2024. Consistent datasets across global competitions offer the TSG the empirical support needed to form a deeper and reliable picture of the game, explains Dell.

“If we go back to how we got here, we can reference back to the findings from the Youth Olympic Futsal Tournaments in 2018, which gave us an understanding of youth female futsal at the time. There were some major findings. Following that, we then established and collected the data for the FIFA Futsal World Cups in 2021 and 2024.

“Having honed and refined that data, it gives us reference points against which we can check and verify our observations, rather than relying solely on perception. Below is an example of how the TSG would incorporate data into their analysis of the types of goals scored in the competition.”

Step 1: What are the surface-level numbers?

FIFA’s bespoke futsal framework allows the TSG to back their observations with data at a player, team, campaign and tournament level. The cart above displays the types of goals scored in the Philippines after 14 games, which is an example of the type of data the TSG include in their analysis. However, the TSG don’t stop at surface-level numbers…

Step 2: What if you exclude front-runners?

Crucially, the Group use their game-based observations to add context to the data. In terms of the goals analysis, the TSG noted that front-runners Spain, Argentina, Brazil and Portugal accounted for 49 of the 109 goals scored in this period. Excluding them from the rest of the field yields an alternative spread of goal types. In turn, analysing goals of the four front-runners in isolation reveals a different weighting…

Step 3: What if you look at front-runners in isolation?

These four teams alone contributed to 34.6% of attacking-phase goals so far. They also scored more than their fair share of set-play goals. This heavy weighting could indicate these teams are scoring through more coordinated methods. These findings are only possible if context is woven into the data and will be explored further as the tournament progresses.

“We’re using that same framework here for comparison, meaning our use of data is not starting from a blank sheet of paper. We’ve got a structure, a datum – which in a sense asks the questions – and we’ll get the answers as the tournament is played, which will allow us to compare and contrast with the men’s game, and also help us understand what’s needed to develop the women’s game.”

The experience of the experts coming from the women’s game is key in this part of the process, stresses Dell, “In terms of our experts, we can use their expertise as coaches, team managers and former players to put context into the data we’re collating. This is an important aspect of our role here in the Philippines – we’re looking at the context of the data in relation to the women’s game.”

The unique identity of women’s futsal – initial impressions

As mentioned above, a key part of the TSG’s working process is to only draw solid conclusions after the tournament has run its course. Coverage of the Group’s in-tournament observations are released throughout the competition; however, definitive learnings are drawn in a post-tournament analysis, which is compiled only after a team lifts the trophy.

Yet, several passages of play from the first 14 matches have indicated that women’s futsal at the global level has showcased several tactical elements and technical acumen not seen before, including in the men’s game.

Example 1: Brazil have been reconfiguring their defensive structure to provide a platform for their fly goalkeeper. These moments see a Brazil defender cover Bianca (3), allowing her team to both beat the first pressing player and provide her fly goalkeeper a platform to attack.

Example 2: In this example, Japan exemplifies the fast ball circulation and accuracy needed to exploit the powerplay. One of the surprising findings from FIFA Futsal Women’s World Cup 2025 was that teams in a powerplay were more likely to concede than score, stressing that many participants at the men’s competition had yet to harness the play’s advantages.

Example 3: Futsal is a game of speed and precision. Emilly’s strike for Brazil’s second goal in their 6-1 win over Italy exemplifies both of these characteristics and demonstrates technical mastery of the highest calibre.

Example 4: Spain demonstrated mesmerising fluidity when in possession during their 5-1 victory over Colombia. The coordinated movements of Spain’s players demand a deep understanding of responsibilities and an acute awareness of space.