Futsal is an indoor version of association football. Its name is derived from the Portuguese futebol de salão and the Spanish fútbol sala/de salón, which can be translated as 'indoor football'. In Madrid 1985 the name fútbol de salón and all other names the game was called were changed officially and internationally into FUTSAL.

Futsal is played between two teams of five players, one of whom is the goalkeeper, and up to seven substitutes per team. Unlike some other forms of indoor football, the game is played on a hard court surface delimited by lines; walls or boards are not used. Futsal is also played with a smaller ball with less bounce than a regulation football.^[1] The rules create an emphasis on improvisation, creativity and technique as well as ball control and passing in small spaces.^[2]

Other forms of indoor football games, which are played by somewhat different rules, exist and may be referred to as indoor football, five-a-side football or indoor soccer. Many of these codes predate FIFA's adoption and endorsement of futsal rules; the American indoor soccer variant, with a regulation-sized ball, larger artificial turf-covered court, and walls off which the ball may be rebounded, has sustained professional leagues in that country for over thirty years.