The best futsal talent from tertiary institutions around New Zealand will converge on Tauranga this week to battle it out in the National Tertiary Futsal Championships.

Victory University of Wellington are looking to defend their men’s title while The University of Auckland are the defending women’s champions in the tournament, which will be staged at the Trustpower Arena from Thursday 25 April to Sunday 28 April.

Josh Margetts, Futsal Development Manager for New Zealand Football, is looking forward to staging the fifth edition of the National Tertiary Futsal Championships alongside University and Tertiary Sport New Zealand (UTSNZ).

“This event is the figurehead national competition for tertiary futsal which has a large impact on the wider growth, quality and retention of futsal players in New Zealand,” he says.

“It’s great to see futsal becoming a powerhouse sport in the tertiary space with many of these universities and institutes running organised and sustainable futsal programmes and affiliated competitions for their students.”

The stakes for the event have gone up a notch this year as it is part of the selection process for the 2020 World University Championships in Poland. Students who are in their final year of study in 2019 are still eligible to play within one year of graduation.

UTSNZ Executive Director Sarah Anderson notes there has been a significant increase in the number of tertiary students competing in the championships since 2016.

“With the National Tertiary Futsal Championships serving as a pathway and selection event for the world champs in 2020, we are seeing higher levels of participation and performance every year,” Anderson says. 

“We are eager to see how the higher standard of local competition will affect representative students’ performance when New Zealand takes to the world stage.”

Both the men’s and women’s competitions are likely to be closely contested with five tertiary institutions – AUT University, The University of Auckland, The University of Waikato, Massey University and Victoria University of Wellington – entering teams in each category.

“The standard was high last year and we’re expecting nothing less this time around,” Margetts says.

“It’s a great opportunity for players to put their hands up for national selection but regional pride is also on the line and that always adds an extra edge to the intensity of the competition.”

The National Tertiary Futsal Championships are free to attend and selected games will be covered each day via live streaming at the below link.

For fixtures, results, standings and other information on the National Tertiary Futsal Championships please click here

To view live streaming from the National Tertiary Futsal Championships please click here

Article added: Wednesday 24 April 2019